Pom in Oz: It’s a sea of red after election bloodbath, but let’s hope it works

So the votes have been counted and WA is officially red. The people spoke and very much decided it was Labor through and through.

I wonder how you voted, but I wonder even more why you voted the way you did?

I spoke to a fair few people about this both before and after the election and there was certainly a common theme coming from both staunch Labor supporters and new Labor voters.

So why did they vote Labor? Simply put, to reward Mark McGowan for a job well done. To pay him and his team back for keeping us all “safe” in WA.

It was said like a chorus, people were so keen to thank Mark for what they saw as his victory over COVID. His work that kept our infection rates to the bare minimum, our community transmission to virtually nothing and our economy booming.

Was this a good thing? Was this the right way to be voted in?

Did Labor even milk this in their campaigning?I would have to say no to the first. No government should be voted in according to success (or failure) of one aspect of their governing.

No government, State or Federal, should win victory based on the work or popularity of one person either.

Did we forget about all of Labor’s stumble points in the years before?

The debacle around the Ag school springs to mind, for one. Or did we make a considered decision and weigh everything up with a well thought-out vote?

Don’t get me wrong, I am a Labor follower and supporter through and through.

But something about how people voted didn’t sit quite right.

Surely the party didn’t need to include the face of the Premier and his name on pretty much every single piece of campaign material?

But fair play to the party, they set their stall out and even Zak Kirkup conceded defeat weeks before the polling stations opened.

I am happy Labor are in. I am delighted for Lara Dalton because she is Gero through and through.

But what I am hoping is the party works as such, as a party.