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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has brushed off questions about the federal implications of the Liberal Party's catastrophic performance in the West Australian election, saying the result had been "expected for quite some time".
Key points:
- It's "very hard" to win re-election after eight and a half years, Malcolm Turnbull says
- One Nation had "a bit of a shocked" in the election, Barnaby Joyce says
- Bill Shorten urges Mr Turnbull not to make deals with One Nation in the future
Mr Turnbull scoffed at the Opposition's argument West Australian voters were partly influenced by their distaste for the Federal Government.
"I think Colin [Barnett] summed it up very well when he said overwhelmingly it was the 'it's time' factor," he said.
"It was a Government that, as he said, had been in for eight-and-a-half years. The history is that it's very hard to win re-election after that period of time."
The landslide loss has triggered a bout of recriminations over the WA Liberal Party's controversial preference deal with Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
One Nation was polling strongly in the lead up to the election but gave a lacklustre performance on election night, capturing under 5 per cent of the primary vote.
The Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce took aim at the preference agreement when it was first revealed — and this morning he said the deal "was a mistake".
He said One Nation had "a bit of a shocker" in the election, and the Liberal Party had over-estimated popular support for the anti-immigration party.
"All the imbroglio regarding preferences means people start to over-assess and exaggerate what they think the support is of their new partner, and they confuse their constituency," Mr Joyce said.
"It is in the Liberal Party's interest to be close to the National Party and it's in the National Party's interest to be close to the Liberal Party and it's in both their interest not to confuse anybody else."
Liberal backbencher Tim Wilson gave an even more pointed assessment on social media.
Turnbull should 'rule out' deals with One Nation: Shorten
Some West Australian Liberals say many supporters were so repulsed at the preference swap deal done with Pauline Hanson they were prepared to simply switch their votes to Labor instead.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pounced on the controversy, demanding Mr Turnbull promise the Liberal Party will never do a preference deal with the anti-immigration party.
"Mr Turnbull should say he's heard the lessons of West Australia, he should rule out once and for all doing any further deals with One Nation — he is the national leader," he said.
"I've ruled it out, he should do the same."
But Mr Turnbull said he had nothing to do with preference decisions, and would not be drawn on the party's preferences strategy for the next federal election.
"Preferences are the matter for a relevant division of the party — they're always entered into with the intention and objective of maximising the vote and representation of the Liberal Party" he said.
"The next federal election is more than two years away and all preference decisions will be considered by the party organisation closer to the election."
Coalition frontbencher and WA powerbroker Mathias Cormann — who was instrumental in striking the deal — said the Liberal Party needed to look for preferences because its primary vote remained stubbornly low.
"Our primary vote, according to internal polling, was as low as 29 per cent. And all throughout the campaign it has hovered at 29-31 per cent at the state level.
"So obviously, if we wanted to minimise losses, maximise our chances of holding onto seats, we needed to be able to source preferences and clearly, these weren't going to come from Labor and the Greens," he said.
Senator Cormann said the deal would still help the Liberal Party to staunch some of its losses in the wake of its landslide loss.
"It will help us in some seats. It will probably help us hold on in seats like Jandakot and Geraldton. These are judgements ultimately that are made on a case by case basis by relevant party organisations."
Is a LNP-One Nation deal on the cards for Queensland?
The next electoral test for the Coalition will come in Queensland, where a state poll is due by next year.
Any preference deal with One Nation, which now seems unlikely, would be a more complex proposition in the Sunshine State, given the Liberals and the Nationals operate as one party — the Queensland LNP.
Barnaby Joyce said the LNP should look closely at One Nation's performance in WA.
"That's a question for [the party] but you just have to look at ... it hasn't been a good day in the office [for One Nation]. So there are a lot of questions that have to be asked about what exactly brought that about and I'm sure they'll do that," he said.
The spectre of the 1998 Queensland election — where a preference deal with One Nation helped deliver 11 seats to the newly created minor party — will also loom over the LNP when it sizes up its options.
Last night's crushing result for the Liberal Party may make Queensland Nationals even determined to differentiate themselves further from their Coalition partners.
But disaffected LNP MPs who are unhappy with the government's performance, such as Dawson MP George Christensen, are more focused on changing the government's direction than preference deal machinations.
Topics: elections, government-and-politics, one-nation, nationals, political-parties, liberals, liberal-national-party-queensland, wa, australia
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