#waxit

Prior reviews: none, this is a new party

Running where: you will absolutely never guess the one and only state in which this party has fielded candidates.

Here is something close to my professional interests as an academic historian! One of my research projects is a history of separation movements in Australia. I focus on the colonial period, but the most famous one occurred after Federation: two-thirds of Western Australian electors voted to separate from Australia in a 1933 referendum (enjoy a longer account here).

The Western Australia Party does not openly promote secession or greater autonomy, but their express purpose is to promote the interests of WA. At times this would imply a greater measure of autonomy within the federation or a renegotiation of how our federation works. They are fixated on questions of tax distribution, demanding that GST revenue be shared among the states on a per capita basis and that WA’s share of total federal tax revenue be increased.

It is possible to advocate for a state’s interests from a left-wing angle, but this is not that party. They endorse the current government’s draconian border “protection” policies and seem to have been sucked into the “don’t touch our franking credits” hysteria. Hell, they even like negative gearing, what planet are these people on? To some extent this party advances not the issues of the whole WA population, but those of some WA Boomers to the detriment of everyone else.

A lot of this party’s policies are really bare-bones stuff. It’s hard to say much on their healthcare or environmental or education policies beyond “they want more money for WA”. The only recognition of climate change on their policies page is this: “Protect our biodiversiy from multiple threats such as pest species, climate change, habitat loss and inadequate funding for land management services”. Gee, informative, thanks folks. Meanwhile they have a whole detailed subpage outlining grievances with the Family Court and wanting more equal parenting arrangements, which is often a red flag given the sort of parties that express their demands this way.

My recommendation: give the Western Australia Party a weak or no preference.