The 2013 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 9 March 2013 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. The incumbent Liberal–

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

government, led by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Colin Barnett Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is an Australian former politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other ...

, won a second consecutive four-year term in government, defeating the Labor Party, led by

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian former politician and naval officer who served as the 30th premier of Western Australia from 2017 until his retirement in 2023. He was the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Austr ...

, in a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

. The Liberals alone won a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly for the first time since the election of 1996, retaining government with 31 seats. Labor won 21 seats and the Nationals won 7 seats. In the Legislative Council, the Liberals won 17 of the 36 seats.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Summary of Assembly results

Seats changing parties

* Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. * * figure is vs. Liberal * ** figure is vs. Labor * *** figure is vs. National

Background

At previous elections, the government was able to choose the date of an election, but on 3 November 2011, the government introduced fixed four-year terms, with elections being held every four years on the second Saturday in March. This was the first election under the new system.

Key dates

* Issue of writ: 6 February * Nominations open: 7 February * Close of party nominations: 12 noon, 14 February * Close of rolls: 6 pm, 14 February * Close of independent nominations: 12 noon, 15 February * Postal voting commences: ? * Pre-poll voting commences: 20 February * Polling day: 9 March * Return of writ: On or before 6 May

Seats held

Lower house

At the 2008 election, Labor won 28 seats, the Liberals won 24 seats, the Nationals won four seats, with three seats won by independents. Three changes have occurred since; the Greens won the seat of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

off Labor at the

2009 by-election 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

, Vince Catania in the seat of North West defected from Labor to the Nationals in July 2009, and Fremantle MP

Adele Carles Adele Simone Carles (born 19 February 1968) is an Australian former politician. She was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2009 to 2013, representing the electorate of electoral district of Fremantle, Fremantle. She was ...

resigned from the Greens in 2010, leaving Labor with 26 seats, the Liberals with 24 seats, the Nationals with five seats, while independents hold four seats. Boundary changes took effect at this election. The only changes to the notional 2008 results were that the seat of Morley shifted from Liberal to Labor and the seat of North West (renamed North West Central) shifted from Labor to National.

Upper house

At the 2008 election, the Liberals won 16 seats, Labor won 11 seats, the Nationals won five seats, and the Greens won four seats.

Retiring MPs

Labor

* John Kobelke MLA ( Balcatta) * Carol Martin MLA (

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

) *

Eric Ripper Eric Stephen Ripper (born 13 September 1951) is an Australian former politician. From 2008 to 2012 he was Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Labor Party in Western Australia. He grew up on a wheat/sheep farm near Nyabing. Ripper late ...

MLA ( Belmont) *

Tom Stephens Thomas Gregory Stephens (born 15 November 1951 in Sydney, New South Wales Australia) is a former Australian parliamentarian. Early life and career Youngest son to John Joseph and Ellen Genevieve Stephens six children; five sons and one daugh ...

MLA (

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

) * Martin Whitely MLA ( Bassendean) * Helen Bullock MLC ( Mining and Pastoral Region) * Ed Dermer MLC ( North Metropolitan Region) * Jon Ford MLC (Mining and Pastoral Region) * Linda Savage MLC (

East Metropolitan Region The East Metropolitan Region was a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Western Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council, located in the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, Perth. It was c ...

)

Liberal

* Norman Moore MLC (Mining and Pastoral Region)

National

* Grant Woodhams MLA (

Moore Moore may refer to: Language * Mooré language, spoken in West Africa People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior ...

)

Independent

* John Bowler MLA (

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

) *

Liz Constable Elizabeth Constable (born 2 December 1943) is an Australian former politician who was an independent member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, first representing the electorate Floreat after winning it at a 1991 by-election follo ...

MLA ( Churchlands)

2008 pendulum

The following

Mackerras pendulum The Mackerras pendulum was devised by the Australian psephologist Malcolm Mackerras as a way of predicting the outcome of an election contested between two major parties in a Westminster style lower house legislature such as the Australian House ...

works by lining up all of the seats according to the

percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...

margin post-election on a

two-candidate-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...

basis. :1.Elected as Labor member, defected to the Nationals in July 2009, margin is ALP v NAT. :2.Elected as Green member, resigned from

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

in May 2010.

Post-election pendulum

Margins with an asterisk (*) indicate seats that have a different 2-candidate-preferred result other than Labor v. Liberal/National. The 2cp result for each seat is below the table. * North West Central had a 2CP margin of 9.7% NAT v LIB. * Warren-Blackwood had a 2CP margin of 3.1% NAT v LIB. *

had a 2CP margin of 6.3% NAT v LIB. * Central Wheatbelt had a 2CP margin of 7.9% NAT v LIB. *

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

had a 2CP margin of 10.9% LIB v NAT. *

had a 2CP margin of 5.9% NAT v LIB. * Eyre had a 2CP margin of 0.4% LIB v NAT. * Wagin had a 2CP margin of 26.9% NAT v LIB. * Kwinana had a 2CP margin of 2.6% ALP v IND.

Polling

Newspoll Newspoll is an Australian opinion polling brand, published by ''The Australian'' and administered by Australian polling firm Pyxis Polling & Insights. Pyxis is founded by the team led by Dr Campbell White, who redesigned Newspoll's methodology ...

polling is conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas. Sampling sizes consist of around 1,100 electors. The declared

margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a Statistical survey, survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of ...

is ±3 percent.

Voting intention

Preferred Premier

Approval ratings

Newspaper endorsements

References

External links

2013 Western Australian Election Preview: Antony Green ABC

Western Australian Electoral Commission

Antony Green's Election Blog - Western Australia Elections and Politics
{{Western Australian elections Elections in Western Australia 2013 elections in Australia 2010s in Western Australia March 2013 in Australia