Federal Election 2025: Regional WA’s support for Coalition reflects dissatisfaction with Labor policies

Regional WA has bucked a national swing to Labor, with the Liberals re-elected in Forrest, Durack, O’Connor and Canning — and still in the running for Bullwinkel — as country voters took their anger out in the polling booth. WA experienced the lowest swing towards Labor compared to any other State or Territory in Australia, at just half a per cent, amid the Federal Government’s unpopularity with some regional voters over issues such as its plan to end the live sheep trade. But in Perth, the depleted Liberal Party lost the key seat of Moore and failed to reverse its significant losses from 2022. Labor was on track to hold an 88-seat majority government on Tuesday, with some seats still to be finalised. Two of the WA’s three regional seats in O’Connor and Durack swung significantly to the Liberals — an expected result given Forrest and Canning also stayed in Liberal hands, with Bullwinkel still to be decided. Bullwinkel WA’s newest seat is also the State’s closest, with less than 40 votes separating Labor candidate Trish Cook and Liberal rival Matt Moran in two-party preferred counting in Bullwinkel, with postal and absentee ballots still to be counted. The new electorate of Bullwinkle covers suburbs in eastern Perth and rural areas of the Avon Valley. A three-way contest complicated the count, with star Nationals recruit Mia Davies dragging attention away from the Liberal campaign. But the former State Opposition Leader appeared stranded in third place on a primary vote of 16 per cent, with her preferences flowing Mr Moran’s way. Canning Canning MP Andrew Hastie, who faced questions during the past month about his absence from the national campaign, received a 4.7 per cent swing towards him and against Labor candidate Jarrad Goold. Mr Hastie — who has held the seat since a September 2015 by-election — was left as the only Liberal left standing in metropolitan Perth. The shadow defence minister had been discussed as possible contender to replace Peter Dutton and lead the Coalition, but ruled himself out on Monday. Canning covers Waroona, Mandurah, Murray, Serpentine-Jarrahdale and part of Rockingham. The Liberal Party has held the seat since 2001. Durack Durack Liberal MP Melissa Price was re-elected with 5.1 per cent swing. The incumbent earned a fifth term in Parliament, again claiming Australia’s largest electorate against Labor’s Karen Wheatland. Ms Price led the count early and never gave it up, and by the end of Saturday night had won a third of the primary vote. The seat has been held by the Liberal Party since its inception in 2010. Durack covers the northern Wheatbelt from Northam to Geraldton, as well as Carnarvon and the vast northern mining and pastoral regions of the Pilbara and Kimberley districts. Major centres in the north include Newman, Karratha, Dampier, Port Hedland, Broome and Derby. Forrest The Liberals also hung on in the South West seat of Forrest where, despite a Teal-backed independent, former senator Ben Small claimed the electorate. Mr Small was able to secure the seat, picking up 52.2 per cent of the two-candidate preferred votes with a margin of 4.6 per cent against Labor’s Tabitha Dowding — a slightly higher margin than when the seat was last contested in 2022. Mr Small managed to collect 31.75 per cent of first preference votes, with Ms Dowding securing 22.69 per cent. The seat of Forrest was previously held by Liberal MP Nola Marino for 17 years. The Liberal Party has held Forrest since 1949 bar a 1969 win by Labor — which was the last time the party held the seat. The cities of Bunbury and Busselton and the shires of Augusta-Margaret River, Capel, Dardanup and Harvey comprise the Forrest electorate. O’Connor Liberal incumbent Rick Wilson easily won a fifth term as the member for O’Connor, re-elected with a 7.2 per cent swing. Mr Wilson won 63.9 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, well ahead of Labor’s Darren Moir, a fifth-generation sheep and grain farmer, on 36.1 per cent. The electorate includes the shires of Collie, Bridgetown, Manjimup, Narrogin, Katanning, Denmark, Albany and Esperance, and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. O’Connor is the State’s second largest electorate behind Durack and third largest across the nation behind Lingiari, Northern Territory. O’Connor has never been held by Labor.