Libby Mettam vows return to ‘issues that matter’ after staring down leadership challenge

Libby Mettam admits it had been a “big 24 hours”. But an hour after emerging from a party room meeting having defeated a plot to remove her as the leader of the Liberal party, she denied she was shaken. “I’m very comfortable about my focus, which is on talking about the issues that matter to Western Australians,” she told The West. “My focus is on moving past this with a united team focused on those issues and working with our outstanding candidates on the ground, including Basil Zempilas.” Speaking after she saw off weeks of mounting speculation at a meeting of the 10 Liberal State MPs on Tuesday, Ms Mettam said had been shocked that polling was commissioned asking voters about their approval of Mr Zempilas. While looking, at times, unsettled in both a post-meeting press conference and the interview with The West, Ms Mettam described her receipt of the polling three weeks ago as an attempt to intimidate her to resign. It was later revealed Ms Mettam had received the polling through former WA Liberal Senator and candidate for Forrest Ben Small. “The approach was set out to intimidate me, and I won’t be intimidated by such threats or actions,” she said. “While I had that information for some time during a couple of weeks, my focus has always been on our job in holding this government account and the issues that matter to Western Australians. “It was not my intention that I would be making statements about this poll, but in light of its publication ... I felt it was the right thing to do to clarify why it lacks any credibility.” Asked if she was shocked when the polling was shown to her, Ms Mettam paused before conceding she was. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and I will continue to work on improving the way that we engage with the WA community, given the challenges we have as a very small team,” she said. “But what we can’t afford is to have people in the shadows trying to set us off track and set me off track as well.” Dismissing suggestions a fresh leadership ballot would need to be held post-election, given a potentially substantial increase in the Liberals’ lower house numbers, Ms Mettam said her focus had to be on winning. “We’ve got a great team. We’re focused on the right issues. “Today has been about moving past the internal matters of the party. Being united as a team which has been illustrated and are putting up the fight to Labor.” Ms Mettam, who was first elected to the seat of Vasse in a by-election in 2014, insisted on Tuesday the Liberals could still win the next State election. She took over the leadership from her sole lower house colleague, Dr Honey, last year before their ranks swelled to three on the defection of North West Central MP Merome Beard from the Nationals.