Kicking ’em while they’re down
I can’t tell whether the announcement of the next Western Australian election five months early is a well-played stroke of genius, or a tacky piece of cynical opportunism.
Yesterday I was somewhat stunned to see the WA Liberal Party fall into such a state of disarray that they had to go and defrost their ex-leader out of (almost-)retirement, even though they’d had plenty of much better-timed chances to dump Troy Buswell. But no matter how bad he was, I fail to see how such a late change could achieve anything, even if Carpenter did see out his term.
Meanwhile, the Government’s (re-)announcements a month ago of more spending on public transport, hospitals, and other infrastructure did sound awfully election-ey.
So I suppose an election shouldn’t come as a surprise. Now I just wait to see what this campaign’s version of the crazy canal proposal shall be …
Hey man,
Came as a bit of a surprise to me too…although Buswell had to go, the last two elections have been completely disastrous for the Liberal Party in W.A., so I’m guessing there wasn’t exactly a lot of “talent” to choose from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Western_Australia)
There have been rumours about AC calling the election early because of a forthcoming ICCC report (from an investigation of the WA ALP) that’s supposedly “unfavourable” to the Carpenter government and the WA ALP in general. Time will tell if there’s any substance to that…
M.
turns out it’s the crazy canal proposal!