Red Rag

We’re about a month away from the WA State Election. It will almost certainly be held on 19 February, and the WAEC says if that’s the case then it must be called by Thursday.

There’s no doubt that the Coalition is going to try to run on the “Howard Halo”. Why wouldn’t they? Opposition Leader Colin Barnett is barely respected by his own caucus, let alone the public. If they’re going to run a personality-based campaign, they need to draft some talent. Howard fits the bill, and if Labor’s leadership difficulties are not fixed soon the halo will only grow.

The other alternative is to run on policies that are of clear benefit to the electors and the State, but even senior shadow ministers admit they’re not able to do that. In today’s West Australian, Steve Pennells tries to make sense of the Opposition’s (non-)commitments to date (p7). He can’t succeed, but does get them to admit their duplicity.

Nationals leader Max Trenorden plants one arse-cheek on each side of the fence: “When you say it is a policy it is a bit hard to alter it.” Shadow health minister Dan Sullivan joins him: “If I said everything on there was policy, I would be lying … we don’t want to lock ourselves in.” Shadow police minister Matt Birney, on the other hand, is sure they’re bona fide promises. Barnett’s office refused to comment — perhaps they couldn’t work it out.

This is Howard’s “non-core promise” writ large. This is making promises to every interest group under the sun, but refusing to back them up with a firm commitment. Is it any wonder the Coalition’s unfunded “positions” — we can’t say “policies” — have already topped $6 billion? There is simply no way they can uphold all of their “positions” and cut taxes and deliver larger surpluses. You can’t trust anything they’ve said.

We’re not talking about the typical “small target” ploy of holding back policies until the campaign formally kicks off. The Coalition hasn’t even had private meetings to discuss policy with its staunchest backer, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. CEO John Langoulant says, “It would be different if a large part of the Barnett cabinet were known to us but a lot of it isn’t known to us. There is great uncertainty.”

The Gallop Government hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been steady, measured and largely effective. As a result, people are flocking to WA — the population topped 2 million this month — and the economy is the strongest in the country. On 19 February, we can return Geoff Gallop to the helm, or we can elect a rabble that says all its commitments are non-core promises.