Leadership Matters: Roger Cook confirms Government sought legal advice over moving State Election date

November 11

The WA Government has sought legal advice on shifting next year’s State Election, as a contingency against a dueling federal poll.

WA’s state election, to be held on March 8, could clash with a federal campaign — due before the end of May.

But amid speculation Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is considering calling an election for late February or early March, Premier Roger Cook told The West’s Leadership Matters on Monday morning the Government had sought legal advice on moving WA’s date.

WA’s election date is fixed on the second Saturday of March every four years and is due in 2025. The laws only allow a conflicting federal poll as a reason for moving the date.

Speaking at The West’s Leadership Matters on Monday morning, Mr Cook confirmed the Government had been considering the State’s options if there was a federal election.

“We have to be ready for any contingency,” he said.

“We know that our election will be on March 8, but there’s also a great deal of flexibility in relation to where the federal election is.

“We have limited ability to switch our election date if the federal election comes in on board on top of that.

“We’re doing a lot of work at the moment, and the Electoral Commission is doing a lot of work just understanding what that some of those complexities might be in the event that the Federal Government decides to have an election close to ours.”

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconLeadership Matters with Roger Cook at Grand Ballroom, Crown Perth on Monday November 11th, 2024. Credit: John Koh/The West Australian

The West understands one of the key concerns if an election is called either on March 8 or close to it is the availability of electoral staff to run the elections.

WA is firming as a key electoral battleground for the Prime Minister, after he picked up four extra seats in the State at the last election — propelling Labor into majority government.

“The decision about when the federal election is going to be rests with one person, and that’s (the Prime Minister),” Mr Cook said.

“I talk to Anthony all the time about issues that are concerned to Western Australians, and he understands our election timetable, so we have to just continue to make sure that we are aware of any contingency in relation to that.”

Asked if he preferred the Federal poll before or after the State election, Mr Cook said: “I don’t care”.

“My focus is on Western Australians, and I think Western Australians understand the difference between the federal and state government, and we’ll continue to make sure that we put our case to the people of Western Australia about the importance of re- electing a WA Labor Government.”

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