Joe Spagnolo: Why Albanese not coming to WA for State election is no real blow for Cook

The fact that Anthony Albanese was a no-show in WA during the election campaign proper confirms what polling is showing — the PM ain’t as popular as he used to be here in the wild, wild west. As the dust settles on the WA election, informed sources tell me Roger Cook and his Labor team weren’t exactly upset that Albo went missing these past few weeks. As one Labor source so beautifully put it, it wasn’t that Albo was told to stay away from the WA election campaign, it was more of a case of he wasn’t encouraged to turn up. As I reported last weekend, Albo had decided to come to WA right as West Australians voted in the State election. The plan was to fly in on Friday and spend Saturday in Perth on election day, pressing the flesh and no doubt reminding us just how many times he has visited. But the cyclone in Queensland meant Albanese decided not to head west, instead staying on to monitor the situation. “My focus is on governing,” he told reporters on Wednesday, as he confirmed he had cancelled the WA visit. “That’s the sole focus that I have.” The cynic in me suggests Albanese was worried that if he had headed west to join Cook on election day while Queenslanders faced potential flooding and damage to properties, he would have been savaged by scribes in the east. Perhaps Albanese learnt a valuable lesson last December when he was heavily criticised for having Saturday afternoon game of tennis in Cottesloe as Australia’s Jewish community dealt with the fallout from the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue. During this State election campaign, sources from both the major parties in WA told me there was a common theme experienced by candidates while out knocking on doors — a dislike of Anthony Albanese. And another issue West Australians brought up often was Albanese’s decision to stop the live sheep export trade, which almost wholly affects farmers in WA. It mattered not that this was mainly a country WA issue, voters — even in the city — felt aggrieved that the livelihoods of farmers would be greatly impacted by this decision. West Aussies are a principled mob, I reckon — most times, anyway. We can criticise each other, but God help anyone across the Nullarbor who criticises a West Australian or, in this particular case, makes a political decision that hurts this State. I reckon the banning of live sheep exports is akin to Scott Morrison’s decision prior to the 2022 Federal poll to oppose in the High Court Mark McGowan’s hard border rules. Both are politically dumb decisions. WA gifted Albanese a majority government in 2022. A dislike of Morrison here in WA was the main reason voters in key Federal seats, including Hasluck, Pearce, Tangney and Swan, decided to dump the Liberals and vote Labor. With polling suggesting a hung Federal parliament, Albanese will once again look west to keep living in the Lodge, but this time leading a minority government. Albanese’s dwindling popularity here in WA will be a major concern for him and the party when the country goes to the polls. Despite the fact Albanese proclaims on each visit that “I love youse all”, I am not sure West Australians are feeling the love for him the way they did in 2022. Or was it more a case in 2022 of disliking the other guy more? Peter Dutton has also been a no-show for the Liberals since February. But I’d argue that a Labor prime minister not coming to WA — where Labor holds government — for a State election tells a more interesting story. Expect Albo to visit WA again in coming weeks