State election 2025: Political contenders for Geraldton seat consider preselection as new boundaries mix it up

It may be more than a year away, but possible key figures are emerging in the battle for the seat of Geraldton at the 2025 election. Revised electoral boundaries were finalised last week, bringing more agricultural communities into the electorate and possibly making it more conservative, and the political landscape is starting to take shape. Potential players are considering nominating for preselection for the next State election, slated to take place in March 2025. Geraldton MLA Lara Dalton won the seat from Nationals’ Ian Blayney with a 13 per cent swing during Labor’s election bloodbath in 2021, with Liberal candidate Rob Dines coming in third. Ms Dalton became the electorate’s first woman MP in its 131-year history. Labor reclaimed the electorate after 12½ years in conservative hands, sending Mr Blayney, who served three terms as MP, into political retirement. The 2021 election was held in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when then-premier Mark McGowan’s popularity was sky-high, and the landscape for the 2025 poll is expected to be vastly different. The Liberal Party and Nationals WA are keeping their options open leading up to preselection, hoping to make the swinging seat of Geraldton anyone’s to win. Changes to WA’s electoral boundaries will expand the seat of Geraldton to take in the rest of the city of Greater Geraldton, as well as the Shires of Chapman Valley and Northampton, reducing the Labor margin significantly, from 11.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent. Its MP will represent 3500 more voters than previously and cover an area expanding more than 22,000sqkm, including parts of the agricultural region previously in the seat of Moore. Mr Dines, Liberal branch president for Geraldton, said it would be a “fascinating contest”, and he expected both the Liberal and National parties to run big players. “The geographical area changes phenomenally, so how does that influence the outcome? That’s the thing I’m curious about,” he said. The active Liberal member was hesitant to confirm if he would put his hand up again, and said he would weigh up what was best for the party when the preselection period opened. “Once the Liberal Party sets a date for nominations for Geraldton I’ll make a decision together with my family on what’s best for us, but also what gives the party the best opportunity to replace what is a woefully inept Labor Government,” he said. “I can’t commit one way or the other until the party actually opens up nominations.” Mr Blayney said although representing the agricultural region was a passion of his, when asked if he was going to run for preselection, his response was “probably not”. “I think I’d be a bit long in the tooth, as a farmer would say — I’m 62 next February,” he said. “I mean, other people have gone into politics at that age and done quite well, but having had four years out of it, I’d have trouble convincing my wife that it would be a good move. “When I was the MP, I would have loved the seat to have had those extra agricultural regions in it because that’s my real love but that never happened when I was there. It’s the way life goes.” Former Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn, who narrowly lost his bid for a third mayoral term in October, is interested in a tilt at State politics. He unsuccessfully stood for the Nationals in the 2013 Federal election. Mr Van Styn would not confirm if he would nominate for preselection, merely saying he was “considering my options” and having informal discussions. “I think that the Labor Party has been out of touch with the needs of regional members and has been out of touch with the electorate, and I would like to think that I could have something to offer,” he said. Although non-committal on Mr Van Styn’s preselection chances, Nationals WA leader Shane Love conceded the ex-mayor was a “prominent local voice”, which is what the party is looking for. Ms Dalton has confirmed she will run for a second term and said she wasn’t focused on who potential candidates might be, but rather delivering for Geraldton and the community. “The next State election is in March 2025. In the lead-up to this, candidates from other political parties or independents will emerge,” she said. “I’m not focused on that, and I don’t think the people of Geraldton would want me to be.” “I’m committed to seeing projects like the Geraldton Hospital redevelopment be delivered and will continue to advocate for Geraldton and our region as the local member of Parliament.” Labor MLC for the Agricultural Region Sandra Carr is looking to secure a second term in politics after she was a surprise beneficiary of Labor’s landslide win in 2021, unexpectedly clinching a seat in Parliament from third position on Labor’s ticket. She forecast voters would continue to back Labor at the ballot box in 2025. “I don’t think there’s much of an alternative out there at the moment,” she said. “The other parties haven’t really regrouped in any really healthy or constructive way.” Ms Carr said she could never be confident of securing a second term but hoped her hard work representing regional WA paid off. “I remain hopeful that I will be given another opportunity,” she said. “I think that Labor, in our preselection, will be quite mindful of making sure that we have a balance of candidates from across both the metropolitan and regional areas, to make sure that we’ve got full scope of representation of who we are as a State. “We’ve got some really good regional members who work particularly hard and I can count myself amongst that group. I know we’re valued and we will be put in places that will give us a good chance to win.” In another local battle that promises to be compelling, Liberal defector Merome Beard is likely to face off against her old Nationals boss, Opposition Leader Shane Love, after the redrawn electoral boundaries combined their seats, North West Central and Moore respectively, into one new electorate, called Mid West.