Trainee MP David Farley makes a mistake and sits with the Green (whoops!) and all hell breaks loose.
Headline after headline after headline.
Coalition-friendly news outlets snaffled it up, hoping to repackage the rookie moment as a way to destroy One Nation. They were in fits of joy imagining that perhaps, from this one mistake, a decade of Coalition failure could be salvaged by pointing and laughing at the new guy.
Take note… Farley voted with the Greens by mistake, the Coalition entrenched Net Zero legislation and forked out untold billions for a fictional apocalypse on purpose. The Coalition did it for years. They are still dabbling in it. Glass houses, my friends.
The point I’m trying to make is perspective.
Last week, one of only seven Liberal MPs in Western Australia quit to become an independent, leaving the Liberals on equal footing with the Nationals (six apiece). Labor has 46. Is anyone going to pretend the Coalition are winning in the West? This poor performance is almost incomprehensible considering WA’s status as a mining capital.
It is not a political disaster that happened overnight. Watching from the Eastern states, we were bewildered by the election campaign of Zak Kirkup. He was just one iteration of failure. The party’s leadership lifespan is shorter than a British Prime Minister, with Troy Buswell, Colin Barnett, Mike Nahan, Liza Harvey, Zak Kirkup, David Honey, Libby Mettam, and Basil Zempilas since 2008. Barely any survive beyond the two-year mark. Mettam came to attention, along with several of her Liberal peers in other states, for initially supporting the Voice to Parliament. And then there was the confusing debate over where the party stood on the catastrophic Aboriginal heritage laws.
I went looking for a WA state party policy platform to shed some light on what they are campaigning for this time, but it wasn’t on the main site that I could see. Which is about as far as voters will get. Their last news item was from April 2025. They have not posted on Twitter since 2024. And their last Facebook post was in May. Yikes.
That aside, with the Liberal vote collapsing nationally, the loss of a state MP should be a point of interest. Especially if that party holds endangered species status. Yes, state governments are not federal governments, but let’s be honest, that has never stopped the press using the comparison for defecting One Nation politicians. Everything is Pauline’s fault, including the weather.
On the defection of Jonathan Huston, the ABC reported:
Mr Huston told the ABC his departure was motivated by a desire to give West Australians a fairer share of the mineral resources of the state, particularly younger people. In his view, that would be achieved by increasing mining royalties to fund the abolition of payroll tax and the creation of a sovereign wealth fund.
Hmm… That sounds familiar. The door is probably open to One Nation, but judging by reports, it has not been knocked on yet. It may never happen.
Here is my question, why wasn’t it considered big news when Nedlands MLA Jonathan Huston ditched the Liberals?
Where are the opinion articles mulling over Liberal policy?
Huston’s reasoning for leaving was certainly newsworthy in the middle of a conservative culture war.
‘I still believe in enterprise, personal responsibility, individual freedom, strong families, and smaller, more effective government,’ Huston said.
‘After considerable reflection, I have concluded that these issues require my full attention and advocacy as an independent member of Parliament.
‘I accept that my approach is not shared by all my colleagues and certainly not the Labor Party, so the proper course is to carve my own course and let the people of Nedlands decide.’
In response to the departure, WA Liberal Leader Basil Zempilas stated:
‘I am particularly disappointed for the people of Nedlands, who elected Jonathan as a Liberal. Jonathan wants to head in a policy direction that does not align with the WA Parliamentary Liberal Party. This includes significant increases in mining royalties which, as Leaders of the Parliamentary Liberal team and Leader of the Opposition, I have no intention of pursuing.’
Which sounds fair.
The Liberals proposing increased mining royalties might just kill off those last six spots but again, if a One Nation MP suddenly popped up with contradictory policy, as Farley has been accused on when he deviated very slightly on the topic of immigration, the media wolves would come out. They didn’t. All you’ve got is me … a puppy tilting its head slightly in query.
The topic of mining royalties is enormous. Mining entities contribute substantially to both sides of politics and their royalties are keeping Australia’s head above water while the Treasury flirts with a bit of loose socialism stretched over the largest federal debt we’ve ever seen.
Net Zero policies split the Coalition twice and they still refuse to separate themselves from the Paris Agreement or commit to axing the Climate Change department. No doubt the state parties harbour a similar reluctance to wage open warfare against green-tinted policies and bureaucracies. This leaves the Liberals aware that the world is stepping back from renewable projects and yet noncommittal on genuine retreat.
There is so much room for discussion here, and yet we are not seeing it.
And if we don’t talk about it, there is no motivation for the Liberal party infrastructure to change their approach. They blamed the last massive defeat on Covid. They can blame the next one on One Nation.
Huston’s comments about Western Australia being one of the wealthiest places on Earth, coupled with ‘yet too many Western Australians feel they are not faring fully in that success’ will place him squarely in the middle of the inevitable incursion of One Nation at the next election.
And boy are they coming.
WA is Gina’s home state and victory for One Nation would be the biggest coup in Australian political history.
The unveiling of their new gas policy is a ‘shots fired’ scenario, putting both Labor and the Coalition on notice that they will not be able to mimic policies on mining royalties.
Western Australia suffers from the same Labor-induced creep of bureaucracy that has squandered the riches of the mining industry on itself instead of the people, leaving Huston with a valid point when he says:
‘We have seen a steady expansion in the size and cost of government, increasing bureaucracy, growing debt obligations, and rising pressure on taxpayers, yet housing affordability has deteriorated, and many families feel less secure about their future. Western Australians should be able to see the benefits of their resource wealth in their own lives … in affordable homes, lower taxes, better services, and greater opportunities for their children.’
Now, that does not immediately mean that raising royalties is the answer. Taking Milei’s chainsaw to unnecessary departments and bureaucratic nonsense would probably do the trick just as well, if you can cover your ears and ignore the horrified shrieks of the unions and left-wing media while it takes place.
As far as I can tell, One Nation could wedge everyone on this by making small but meaningful changes to royalties while slashing government waste. Such a policy could not be bettered by Labor or the Coalition.
The Liberals have vowed to run against Huston, saying that he ‘relied on the tireless volunteer efforts of loyal WA Liberal Party branch members within and beyond the Nedlands electorate to secure his election to State Parliament’ and that ‘those members have every right to feel disappointed and angry’.
The Liberal Party added, ‘The WA Liberal Party is ultimately bigger than any individual. Our parliamentary team will continue working with our branch members in Nedlands and right across the state to fight for local communities that are being ignored by WA Labor.’
Feeling betrayed in natural when a politician switches shirts. One Nation knows that pain. As far as WA goes, the Liberals are walking the extinction line extremely closely and yet there is a business as usual vibe.
What actually happened and what is the plan going forward?
I have no idea, and neither do voters.
Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
