Editor’s Desk: NWC by-election not expected to be a shock result, but has thrown up interesting questions

Straight off the bat, the result of the North West Central by-election this Saturday is not expected to be a shocker. All indications are pointing to the Nationals retaining the seat, and by default, their one-seat grip on Opposition status. The Nats are likely to stay on three Lower House seats, while the Liberals will be kept to the two they were left with after the 2021 election bloodbath. The most intriguing part of this contest was Labor’s decision to throw up the white flag right away and not field a candidate. They used the excuse that by-elections not usually go in a sitting government’s favour, but this was a seat they almost won last year. They only lost by 259 votes. It was a political decision to stay out of the race, but I wonder what kind of message it sends to voters in the North West Central electorate. They might have thought they wouldn’t be in with a chance anyway, given the strong rural foothold of the electorate — massive in size with pastoralism sitting alongside mining as the most important industries, but with a tiny population of about 11,000 — and that Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan faux pas comments of a foot-and-mouth outbreak not equating to a “catastrophe” would have done little to endear voters to Labor. But still, it’s likely many voters feel the decision to sit out this election is an indication of a government who can’t be bothered, who has abandoned them, has priorities elsewhere. It could be, and probably has been seen by many, as a slap in the face that they don’t matter. Without a government candidate, there’s been cash splashes, no funding promises and it’s an unusual one in which the main rivals are usually allies. The heat is being put on the one who isn’t even in the race. There is no shortage of urgent issues that need to be addressed in this region — health and education access, law and order and labour and workforce shortages to name a few. Kalbarri is a microcosm of just how bad construction delays are across the board. Almost 18 months on from cyclone Seroja, many, many properties still need to be rebuilt and disaster relief funding is trickling through. Yet the powers that be have only just started planning for extra workers’ accommodation. Carnarvon’s own Shire president has begged for State Government help to tackle its youth crime wave, describing parts of the town as a “war zone” with no one left unaffected. The Gascoyne town has been without maternity services for most of the year. More than 70 women have been forced to travel hundreds of kilometres each way to Geraldton or Perth to have their babies, and yet there is still no end in sight that will allow them to deliver in their hometown. While Carnarvon pub owner Merome Beard looks likely to be her old boss Vince Catania’s successor, regardless of the result on Saturday, you have to wonder how much influence, if any, a new backbencher will have in a bare-bones opposition outfit. What will change? Will anything get better? Whatever happens, I don’t think the people of this electorate will soon forget that Labor chose to remain on the sidelines, happy to forfeit in the battle to give this electorate the best representation possible.