WA Senate election results show swing away from major parties

Updated

The Greens and the Palmer United Party (PUP) have emerged as the big winners after Western Australia's Senate election re-run.

On projected results the Greens have picked up a 6.7 per cent swing, which would ensure Scott Ludlam retains his Senate seat.

PUP also looks to have picked up a seat with a swing towards the party of about 7 per cent.

The projected data from the ABC's election analyst Antony Green showed the Liberals and the ALP had falls of 5.6 and 5 per cent respectively.

"The overall balance between the two parties, it looks like it's going to be exactly the same as it was last September," he said.

The Liberals appear to have secured two seats with Labor reduced to one.

Mr Green said it appeared swings away from the two major parties had transferred to the Greens and PUP.

The outcome for the sixth seat remains unclear and the Australian Electoral Commission says it may be weeks before the final results are known.

The blame game has already begun to determine what caused the swing away from the two major parties, with a backlash against union involvement in the Labor Party and a protest vote against the Government appearing the key factors.

Greens Senator Ludlam lost his seat in the first count in September, but regained it on the second count when the lost votes were not included.

He said he was "tremendously proud" looking at the early results.

"Our campaign isn't funded by the coal industry or gas industry," he said.

We had a strong online campaign backing up the most motivated grassroots face-to-face campaign that I've ever seen. Senator Scott Ludlam

"The only way to compete with the major party financing by big business or Clive Palmer buying seats, is people power.

"We had a strong online campaign backing up the most motivated grassroots face-to-face campaign that I've ever seen."

Former Labor senator Chris Evans said the Greens had run a good campaign.

"The Greens certainly won the campaign in the sense that they were able to promote an image through their candidate," he said.

"They were creative. And quite frankly both the major parties looked a bit dull in comparison.

"As I say there was nothing at stake. And people I think were prepared to shop around and look around at alternatives for the major parties because government wasn't at stake."

Union involvement in ALP's preselection process under scrutiny

As attention turned to what caused the swing away from the major parties, Mr Evans was critical of Labor's preselection process.

The decision to put the former union heavyweight Joe Bullock ahead of sitting Senator Louise Pratt on Labor's ticket was publicly criticised within the party at the time.

"In my view there's no question that the Labor Party has a serious problem with its preselection processes, particularly in Western Australia," Mr Evans said.

"We had a situation where two large unions were able to make a decision about the candidates.

"They're not necessarily producing the best candidates and they're not allowing the party rank and file to be empowered.

"That's something the Labor Party has to fix. But I think the reality of this election... was the fact that the Greens and the Palmer United, I think they were the biggest spending parties, but they were able to do something that was interesting and gave people a chance to give the major parties a bit of a whack without having to have any consequence if you like."

Federal Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan said she was pleased to hear Mr Evans supporting a view she had held for some time.

"I am not opposed to union movement in the Labor Party, I absolutely understand and appreciate the importance of unions in delivering a sort of fair and just Australian society," she said.

"What I have been a great critic of and will continue to be a great critic of is the concentration of power in the hands of a few union secretaries."

You know the last two days of the campaign have been a bit of a distraction but they have by no means been a dominant feature. Senator Louise Pratt

Senator Pratt said the media attention given to a speech made by Mr Bullock last year was little more than a "distraction".

In the speech, Mr Bullock made derogatory statements about Senator Pratt and ALP members.

"We have been campaigning on health and education and Tony Abbott's cuts and people's very real concerns about the cuts Colin Barnett has made, and the fact that Tony Abbott wants to go even further," Senator Pratt said last night.

"The last two days of the campaign have been a bit of a distraction but they have by no means been a dominant feature."

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop made mention of Senator Pratt's decision to vote below the line rather than follow the party's advice and vote above the line.

"I took the luxury of voting for myself," Senator Pratt said.

"Joe said: 'Of course you should vote for yourself'. We are both candidates."

Liberals blame protest vote for swing against Government

Meanwhile, Liberal Party members have downplayed the swing against them.

Ms Bishop said a protest vote was expected.

...they know that by voting today, they would not change the Government in Perth or in Canberra and as a result, they feel more comfortable in spraying their votes around. Senator Eric Abetz

"The Greens are the protest party and so in a by-election, particularly where people in Western Australia are voting for the third time in 12 months, they're going to protest and so the Greens would be the beneficiary in a vote like this," she said.

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said state issues had played a role.

"There is no doubt that the West Australian Liberal Government or Coalition Government is going through some tough times," he said.

"We had that cynically orchestrated strike by teachers in the week in the lead-up.

"All those things do add to a negative view of the Government in the short-term and the consequences then flow and they know that by voting today (Saturday), they would not change the Government in Perth or in Canberra and as a result, they feel more comfortable in spraying their votes around."

There had been questions through the campaign about the visibility of PUP's lead candidate Dio Wang, with advertising focused on the party's founder Clive Palmer.

But Mr Wang said he had been out meeting people face-to-face in regional parts of the state.

"What I'm focused on as a politician is you need to talk to people and to understand what they think," he said.

"And regional Australia has been suffering a long time because of the noise from the Liberal Party and the Labor Party."

When asked if he would vote for the repeal of the carbon tax: "I will definitely vote for it, if there's nothing else fishy in the Bill."

Topics: federal-elections, alp, liberals, greens, wa

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