The structure of the WA Lower & Upper Houses have a unique glitch that some don't realise or deliberately omit.
There's the obvious cross bench seats such as there are now, a SFFP member, three PHON members and a Liberal Democrat. Obvious no doubt, but what about the other cross bench or perhaps, the other bench altogether, the one that's occupied by the WA Nationals.
Theirs certainly is a unique space. In the lower house it was noticeable the WALabor line along the lines of 'you were in office for 8 years, why now' when trying to shut down the WANats efforts to start an inquiry into Legacy or State Agreements.
Couple of things here, the push for revising the Mining Rental Fee came long before the last state election. So the Nats were aligned with that stance well before leaving government.
Next is, Nats should give up the Rental Fee because Brandon Grylls is gone. Well yes, but it was passed as a stance still to be pursued at the Nats State Conference, where Brendon Grylls was not a delegate.
But return for a moment to the "you were in office for 8 years, why now" angle.
Whilst in opposition the Nats are opposition, in government they're in government but not the government. They're more like a formally annexed cross bench. In recent times the formal coalition arrangement was replaced with a "partnership" model which did allow Nationals to cross the floor if they deemed fit. And they did.
It is the thing, they're in a unique space between part of the government and the cross bench. Not isolated entirely, but not the tail wagging the dog either. They're quite able to cop 100% blame for every government decision whilst in Government & later whilst in opposition. When they cross the floor or provide a blocking mechanism they're heralded by the Labor Party, or rather not heralded at all. They're used by Labor as a point score to claim disunity in Liberal/National Government.
Its a difficult space for the WANats. They need to join in coalition or partnership to avoid a Labor Government most elections as Labor is less than kind to rural & regional electorates. At the same time, they need to balance the best results for the bush whilst maintaining a coalition/partnership which will cause them quite often to agree to outcomes they wouldn't push for if it were a majority Nationals government.
Some call it the game of ethical blindness others call it garden variety give & take horse trading. In any case, its a very odd space. The best position they can attain is a position of compromised effectiveness in government or opposition.
But it is funny, with the factions within WALabor, they're not so different. They're said to have 2 factions. The left & the progressives. The space they occupy is somewhat different in that they usually have more behind closed doors argy-bargy and they cannot under any circumstances cross the floor & vote against their party without a conscience vote. The conscience vote is an odd thing. It means on selected few issues one will not be told which way to vote. For the most part, the left & the progressives not so much work together, rather they have a coalition government no different to the Lib/National Government except the left & progressives are not different separate entities in opposition.
The real difference is Nats can & do go their own way when they can or have to.
Left & Progressives cannot go separate, or its expulsion from the party and the illusion of the true believer system is still holding well despite the illusion.
So its actually quite accurate to refer to the WA Labor Government as a Coalition government, a coalition of the left and the progressives. Strangely they're not too bold or rather the left will bow to the progressives who may be in bigger numbers.
A $25Million sewerage project for country towns gets cancelled whilst announcing a $125 Million Marina Playground in Joondalup. How is it that the Left faction can support that decision?
Easy, because they have to. They'll suffer the contradiction for any time at all than do the right thing. To them, opposing the Party is the only wrong thing.
How long will the coalition Labor government last?
Who knows, but they cuddle the big end of town as often as the Liberal party. They just won't be seen cuddling Chamber of Commerce & Industry, captains of industry or big business...well not in public.
Labor's ethical blindness is possibly far greater and more deeply entrenched than the consequences, minor in comparison that the WA Nats endure.
Remember, its a WA Labor Coalition Government and the left has sold its backside out to the rich foreign owned mining corporations. The big end of town.
March on Brother Comrade, but no raise in Rio/BHP's 1960s Special Rental Fee (its not a tax)...its easier to make families pay extra for everything.
Where Nats can cross the floor for the people of the bush, WALabor's 13 rural MPs cannot or they're expelled from party. They represent LABOR IN THE ELECTORATE, they don't represent the electorate in parliament.
2 imperfect coalition government models, but the WALabor one is the least helpful to WA Citizens.
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