WA Liberal members and MPs were guilty of "unethical and underhand" conduct in the lead-up to their catastrophic state election loss, according to a scathing internal review that warned the party was "headed for the door" unless urgent changes were made.
Key points:
- An internal WA Liberals review has given a scathing assessment of their 2021 election campaign
- It found the party was a 'wasteland devoid of values' but did not name key party influencers
- The party suffered an election wipe-out, with just two lower-house MPs remaining
It also found the party had been affected by a "corruption of the essential mechanisms that guide and are intended to preserve the integrity of the party", describing the current situation as "untenable".
The internal review was commissioned in the wake of the March election, in which the Liberals were left with only two Lower House members, leading Nationals MP Mia Davies to be installed as opposition leader.
A total of 167 written submissions and 27 oral submissions were made, none of which were submitted by current federal parliamentarians.
The report made 22 recommendations relating to membership, after leaked text messages revealed how key powerbrokers maintained control over the party through branch stacking.
The report highlighted instances where senior members had paid for multiple memberships, although noted that there may be legitimate explanations for those payments.
It found one person had paid for 68 memberships, and another had paid for 39, between July 15, 2020 and 2021.
There were also 10 people who had paid for between seven and 15 memberships.
It called for an audit into the party's membership records, proof of identity when making an application, and tighter controls over who can pay for an application.
Other suggestions included members not being allowed to transfer to other branches more than once a year, and new members not being allowed to vote in pre-selections for a year after joining.
Call for state executive to be abolished
Among the report's most sweeping recommendations was a call to abolish the party's state executive.
It said the state conference should then decide whether the executive fulfilled some "useful role" in the party's administration, before re-introducing it with major changes.
That could include reducing its size to make it "less susceptible to factional manipulation" and banning electronic devices.
Mobile phones, tablets and laptops would be banned at many high-level meetings to maintain confidentiality, except for certain party officials.
That would include the state council, state executive and state management executive.
The report also called for major changes to the process of endorsing MPs prior to elections.
It said all MPs should go through the preselection process, even if they were the incumbent or only candidate.
It also recommended MPs be subject to performance reviews conducted by three "party elders".
'Embarrassing and humiliating' campaign
Outgoing WA Liberal Party president Fay Duda apologised for an "embarrassing and humiliating" campaign in the lead-up to the election.
She said the result reflected the fact that the party was too focussed on itself.
"Unless we face up to this reality, we cannot move forward," Ms Duda said after the report was released.
"Members from all parts of the party need to accept responsibility, stop talking about the past and start working together for the future."
The chair of the review committee, Danielle Blain, said there were three key areas for the party to focus on:
- Presenting policies that represent the "values and aspirations" of the community;
- Creating a "real democracy" for members; and
- Increasing the participation of women.
"All members must have the opportunity to participate in candidate pre-selections and choosing the party's office-bearers in their local electorate," Ms Blain said.
"We must acknowledge that women are not adequately represented in either the organisation or parliamentary wings of the party, despite it being a proclaimed value.
"I am optimistic that the party will use this opportunity to re-earn the trust of Western Australians and give them the alternative government that they deserve."
Mark Trowell, who worked on the report with Ms Blain, said it was a deliberate choice not to name anyone in the report.
"Those who know what's been happening in the party will know exactly who we were talking about and who's been identified," he said.
"We didn't want a report where we were just going to make accusations against people when we're not satisfied that all of it is necessarily true.
"I think a lot of it is, but that's for the party to decide."
Female participation, preselection issues to be addressed
The report proposed addressing cultural issues within the party, as well as developing meaningful and productive interactions between the parliamentary wing and party members.
It also suggested making structural changes to the party's operations, including funding, membership, pre-selections, candidate selection and training of candidates.
The report said it was "essential" the party increase female participation as soon as possible, but set a soft deadline of within two election cycles.
It also called for more to be done to stimulate membership in the regions.
According to the report, pre-selection should be chosen by members who were on the electoral roll for that electorate, and had been a party member for at least 12 months.
However, it said the party's state council would retain the power of final endorsement of candidates, including acting as a selection committee for individual seats.
It said staff of MPs should not generally be eligible for pre-selection for a period of two years after leaving the MPs' offices, and applications for pre-selection should be in the form of a statutory declaration.