Nationals Disappoint

TODAY’S decision by the WA National Party to fall in with the Liberal Party, their usual accomplices-in-power, to form a new State Government shows a failure of imagination by Brendon Grylls.
Perhaps it is a failure of courage, too. There’s no secret conservative back room voices in all the parties were aghast at the prospect of the Nationals lending legitimacy to State Labor and helping Carpenter and mates form Government once more.
For those outside the bulwark of centrist politics, the last week-and-a-bit has been surreal.
Finally the people had their chance to say who they wanted to govern Western Australia and, based on the results and ignoring the rhetoric from Carpenter and Barnett, it seemed the people didn’t want either of the majors to secure the job.
For weeks the electorate heard how Alan Carpenter had an image problem and was seen as arrogant and conceited.
Carpenter said he called the election early because every time Labor did or said anything, election speculation was the result.
As if the ghosts of democracy demanded their pound of flesh, they would not be fooled by a mere four-week run-up to an election.
Confusion and alleged poor Electoral Commission polling will see the election stretched out to at least a respectable six weeks.
Some could say the end result has seen Carpenter punished for his hubris, but with that awful, all-pervasive smirk, it is not like Colin Barnett is free of that taint either.
Now the Nationals have given Barnett something to truly crow over, and while humility in victory was probably never a strong suit, it’s expected Barnett will refrain from whooping and showing his arse when taking the top honours from his maligned counterpart Alan Carpenter.
For those who have been holding their breath throughout the post-election polling limbo, a giddying sense that perhaps something truly different and unusual might result has been replaced with the will-sapping realisation that it is now business as usual in the great developer-friendly State of Western Australia.
While they are never short of something to argue, and can claim any number of ideological differences, at ground level there’s not very much to distinguish what has gone before from what is now to come.
The only difference is voters, for now, know that Government only formed in WA with the compliance of the regional Nationals.
The decision by Brendon Grylls was surprising to some, as he struck pundits as young enough, strong in character and perhaps naïve enough in imagination to consider crossing into new territory and giving Labor one last go.
Senior inside Labor figures believed it was a real possibility.
While rusted-on tradition on the one hand and the undeniable recognition that voters failed to elect the incumbent would always be strong motivators against Grylls going there – the powers within his own party notwithstanding – there seemed far more link between Grylls and Carpenter than with the new kingmaker and Barnett.
Remembering Barnett early on dismissed the Royalties for Regions scheme, and throughout the course of the negotiations failed to really hit the conciliatory and deferential tone needed to make the Liberals an attractive partner in long-term Government, it was also obvious there was a personal link between Grylls and Carpenter that would have enticed the young maverick to possibly chance his arm.
Obviously he didn’t, and history will be poorer for the decision – though whether WA would be better off or not is an entirely different argument.
Parliament bends the individual to its whims far more easily than the other way around, it has been observed before.
For one moment there was a glimmer of hope, a flicker of interest and the possibility West Australians might be able to get engaged again in State politics because it appeared a rabble of Independents, ousted big party names and Nationals might be the key to governance in the State.
Even the poor bastard Greens (11 per cent of the poll a not a seat to show for it) got a whiff of the excitement early on, and that’s not to mention the candidates who fell for early incoherent numbers and declared individual victories.
People are tired and in fact numb to the nepotism and closed club nature of major party politics, whether it’s the Liberals in their Peppermint Grove prep school persuasion or Carpenter parachuting plum players into key seats.
The idea that anyone might have a say and influence the direction of the State is a novel one, now sadly deflated in the light of a weak decision.
Whether forming Government with Carpenter’s crew is actually anything to get excited about obviously has its question marks.
The point is that anyone hoping to have glimpsed a break in the cycle of self-perpetuating plutocracy in this State witnessed a mirage instead.