Before the Senate re-election was called, federal Liberals believed the Abbott government suffered collateral damage from the plunging popularity of Premier Colin Barnett and his Liberal government.
In the January-March period, primary support for the Coalition rose from 41 to 46 per cent after dropping 10 points in the October-December quarter. At the September election, the Coalition received a 51.2 per cent primary vote in WA.
Labor’s primary support dropped from 36 per cent three months ago to 29 per cent — equal to its election result. Greens support jumped from 10 per cent before Christmas, the same as its election result, to 15 per cent while support for “others’’ dropped from 13 per cent to 10 per cent, the same as the election result.
Greens’ support may have risen in the past three months as a result of the campaign against the Barnett government’s shark-culling program while PUP may be suffering from an aggressive Liberal campaign in Perth after a similar campaign limited the PUP vote in Tasmania.
Because of a series of preference swap deals involving minor parties, it is possible a fall in support among the micro parties could benefit the Hemp Party and lead to a three-way fight between the Greens, Labor and Hemp for the sixth seat in WA.
So, the future of Western civilisation may be in the hands of a few stoners. We could do worse.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
