Forget the hype, green vote was crucial in WA

Claire Miller, Environment Reporter, The Age (article),  14/2/2001

While three One Nation members have been voted into the upper house, the Greens stand to hold the balance of power, with their numbers jumping from three to at least five members in the WA Legislative Council.

In aggregate numbers, the Greens, Liberals for Forests and independent environmental candidates captured a total primary vote comparable to One Nation across the state. Compared with WA's last election in 1998, One Nation's support fell slightly while the Greens jumped ahead by more than two percentage points.

But a seat-by-seat breakdown reveals One Nation lost out when it competed head to head with the environment movement in conservative seats.

In the eight safe Liberal seats where One Nation faced both Greens and Liberals for Forests, its primary vote totalled 12,156 compared with the combined environment vote of 28,174.

Preferences from the Greens, Liberals for Forests and independent environmental candidates handed Labor three of these eight seats. All three were held by Liberal ministers. Liberals for Forests, which snared 1.7per cent of the primary vote statewide despite only running in these eight seats, also looks set to win one in its own right - Alfred Cove - unseating Doug Shave, the Minister for Lands and Fair Trading.

Liberals for Forests campaigned to end logging in old-growth forests and to change the Liberal Party's pro-logging policy. It polled up to 20per cent in contested seats, including 18per cent for fashion designer Liz Davenport standing against former Premier Richard Court.

A Liberals for Forests spokesman, former Australian Medical Association president Keith Woollard, said that the party had achieved half its objectives with Labor's election.

Premier-elect Geoff Gallop, sensing the electorate's mood, heavily promoted Labor's policy of no logging in old-growth forests in the last week of the campaign.
"We have been jumping up and down and saying this was a forest election, and once the Pauline Hanson effect dies down, we will get some sensible discussion," said Dr Woollard.

Greens Senator Bob Brown said that forests should not be dismissed as a state issue confined to WA. He said that forests were an important local issue in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, which the big parties ignored at their peril.

Liberal leader Richard Court yesterday defied predictions that he would resign from the position and instead announced he would stay on for up to eight years.