Roger Cook declares WA opposition ‘at war’, with Nationals’ Bateman branch ‘a shot across the bow’ to Liberals

Premier Roger Cook has refused to pick a winner in the messy battle for the mantle of WA Opposition Leader, but says the Nationals declared open war with the establishment of a branch in Perth’s southern suburbs. The country and conservative parties have been unable to turn their informal alliance into a Coalition since talks began in February, when Nationals leader Shane Love outlined a proposition centred on his team’s candidates getting three of the top nine slots on a joint ticket in the Legislative Council. In exchange, he would hand over the role of Opposition Leader, which WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam clearly wants. But in August, after the Liberals missed a deadline to respond to a formal proposal, an unfazed Ms Mettam said it was “the start of the conversation”. And last month, the proposal was rejected by the Liberal party at its state conference, with the Liberals yet to make a counter-offer. This week, their relationship appeared in tatters, with Nationals MP Merome Beard defecting to the Liberals, leaving both sides three apiece in the Legislative Assembly. After the Nationals held its first Bateman branch meeting on Wednesday night, Mr Cook described the move as “a shot across the bow”. “The National Party and the Liberal Party are at war, and it’s more chaos and dysfunction,” he told reporters on Thursday. “We really have to have to wonder what’s going on in those party rooms. “We’ve got a Leader of the Opposition who is not sure if he wants to be the Leader of the Opposition. We’ve got a leader of the Liberal party that’s not sure if she wants to be in coalition with the National Party. “It’s another indication of just how unfit for government the Liberals and Nationals are.” Mr Cook said he didn’t enjoy seeing the chaos - and he didn’t think West Australians wanted politicians and political parties to be “embroiled in this sort of internal, divisive battles”. The Premier was defensive when asked about how he came into the top job after Mark McGowan quit in May: without unanimous backing after his own faction - the United Workers Union - opted to support Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson instead. “I was elected by a united team that wanted to make sure it put its best foot forward as a Government,” Mr Cook said. “We resolved our leadership issues inside 24 hours. “We are now a good two to three years into this term and they still haven’t figured out who is going to be the Minister for Transport let alone who is going to be the Leader of the Opposition.” Asked if he believed Ms Mettam would be better, Mr Cook replied: “I’ll leave it up to them to decide. “I just shake my head in disbelief at how chaotic and dysfunctional they are.”