Pastorelli among WA Labor endorsements

WA Labor has endorsed a suite of fresh candidates vying for a place in parliament at the 2025 state election, with Mark McGowan’s former chief of staff Dan Pastorelli confirmed for a tilt.

Mr Pastorelli, who is currently Premier Roger Cook’s chief of staff and whose name has been linked with a run of his own for some time, has tonight been endorsed in Landsdale.

Mr Pastorelli’s candidacy comes off a long apprenticeship, and as a member of Mr McGowan’s inner circle who parachuted into Mr Cook’s office last year, he is already considered someone of considerable influence within the government.

Previously unaligned, Mr Pastorelli is understood to have joined the party’s right faction recently. He will replace the retiring Margaret Quirk as the Labor candidate for his local area in Landsdale.

WA Labor state president Lorna Clarke, who is also a City of Bayswater councillor and was until recently an in-house lawyer at the Economic Regulation Authority, will run for the party in retiring attorney general John Quigley’s Butler electorate.

Ms Clarke has a long history in Labor ranks and was once a policy advisor to former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Fellow City of Bayswater councillor Dan Bull – once the keyboardist in Perth band Eskimo Joe – will contest the Maylands electorate for the WA Labor party.

His candidacy comes as the long-serving incumbent Lisa Barker retires.  

The Labor candidate aiming to succeed Peter Tinley in Bibra Lake is Sook Yee Lai, a former Christmas Island resident who currently works in the office of Tangney MP Sam Lim.

Bibra Lake is the new name for Willagee electorate currently occupied by Mr Tinley, which was changed following the redistribution of the state’s electoral boundaries last year.

Wungening Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Daniel Morrison-Bird will run for WA Labor in Thornlie – where Chris Tallentire has been a long-serving local member.

Mr Morrison-Bird has been an outspoken critic of the state’s handling of juvenile detainees at Banksia Hill but was tapped by the Labor left to run for the role occupied by the retiring Mr Tallentire.

The electorate of Cannington, held since inception by retiring former cabinet minister Bill Johnston, will be contested by his former chief of staff Ron Sao.

Mr Sao, who now works for Aboriginal Affairs minister Tony Buti, has strong ties to the area having grown up in Beckenham.

He has worked for the party since at least 2008.

Shire of Mundaring councillor Karen Beale will contest the seat of Kalamunda, currently held by the retiring Matthew Hughes.

The endorsement of candidates in seats being vacated by WA Labor’s retiring class marks a succession plan of sorts for the party, with a number of the electorates considered safe seats.

A replacement for Mt Lawley MP Simon Millman, who announced a surprise political retirement last week, is yet to be decided.

The 2025 state election is scheduled for March.