The State Opposition says Colin Barnett is a “despicable little man” after the Premier claimed Labor would have walked away from the police’s job of investigating the Claremont serial killings.

Speaking yesterday about damning police survey results in The West Australian, Mr Barnett said people should also look at police successes such as the arrest of the alleged Claremont serial killer.

“The arrest of an alleged perpetrator of the Claremont murders (is) something that the Labor Party walked away from,” Mr Barnett said. “Remember Michelle Roberts criticising the police for not doing the job — well, they did the job.”

When asked by a journalist whether he was making a political point out of the Claremont murders, Mr Barnett replied: “I’m making the point that the police do a great job.”

“They did not give up — Michelle Roberts, the Opposition police spokesperson gave up.”

Labor’s Ben Wyatt said Mr Barnett was trying shamelessly to gain “political mileage” out of tragic circumstances.

Mr Wyatt said he was part of a small group of young Perth lawyers along with Ciara Glennon at the time she became one of the Claremont victims and he took offence at the suggestion Labor was not committed to police investigations into the Claremont serial killings.

“For Mr Barnett, despicable little man that he is, to make a political statement about what has been a tragic period in WA history ... shows how desperate he has become ... and how low he is willing to go,” Mr Wyatt said. Mr Barnett said Mr Wyatt’s comments were “pathetic”.

Bradley Robert Edwards, 48, has been charged with the wilful murders of Jane Rimmer, 23, and Ms Glennon, 27.

The disappearance of 18-year-old Sarah Spiers in January 1996, whose body has never been found, remains an open investigation.

Mr Barnett made the comments yesterday after opening the new Wooree Miya Women’s Refuge in the south-eastern suburbs of Perth.