There will only be two Liberal members in the lower house when parliament resumes and they’re both expected to put their hands up to become the next leader of the party.

Following the resignation of Zak Kirkup, who lost his Dawesville seat in the election, both David Honey from Cottesloe and Libby Mettam, the member for Vasse, are the only two MPs likely to become leader of the party, as leaders are usually from the lower house.

As the counting in last weekend’s state election winds up the Liberal Party’s hopes of picking up a third lower-house seat have been dashed with Labor picking up Nedlands from party elder Bill Marmion, and political analysts declaring it is unlikely that Sean L’Estrange will recover in Churchlands, where Labor’s Christine Tonkin leads by 200 votes.

Mettam, who is currently serving as acting leader, told The West Australian that she was “giving thought” to the leadership position, while Honey would not confirm if he intended to stand, but said he would give it consideration before the first party meeting.

Whoever becomes the leader they will face a difficult task with the party losing it’s official opposition status to the regionally focused National party. Between the two parties they will only have 15 members between them across both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.  Assigning show ministers, and having representatives on the 17 different parliamentary committees will stretch both parties significantly.

OIP Staff

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