Labor has announced it will not contest a looming by-election caused by the resignation of North West Central MP Vince Catania.
The long-serving nationals MP has handed his resignation to the speaker of Western Australia's Legislative Assembly, officially triggering the process of holding a by-election.
After declaring the seat vacant, Speaker Michelle Roberts today told Parliament she would issue a writ for the election to be held on Saturday September 17.
Both the Liberal and National parties have announced their candidates, but Premier Mark McGowan confirmed today Labor would not be putting one forward.
"Long-standing governments often make this decision," he said.
"It's just a political reality that those by-elections are difficult for governments, particularly in an electorate that we were not successful in last year.
"That's the fact, that's the truth."
Mr McGowan denied suggestions there was division within the party over the decision.
"We've had various discussions about it, but it's an agreed decision and all ministers are in agreement," he said.
Government 'can't even be bothered' contesting
Deputy Nationals leader Shane Love said it was a surprising decision.
"That makes an interesting concept that you've got a government that can't even be bothered to contest a by-election in a seat as vital as that," he said.
"But I think it's pretty clear that the Premier doesn't want any loss coming off him by having a poor result."
Opposition leader Mia Davies said it was a disappointing decision, given concerns around crime, housing and worker shortages in the region.
"That demonstrates how much this government has completely ignored the electorate and isn't willing to show their face to deal with some of the real challenges I know that those communities are facing," she said.
But Mr McGowan rebuffed that suggestion, listing off a range of projects his government had delivered or funded.
The long-serving Nationals MP announced his retirement nearly two months ago, saying he did not "have anything left in the tank".
However, he did not officially resign at the time, as most politicians do, in a move described as "most unusual" by political commentator Peter Kennedy.
When asked about the delay, a spokesperson for the WA Nationals said it had always been Mr Catania's plan to retire in early August.
"[He] continues to be committed to his role as the member for North West Central until this time," the spokesperson said.
North West Central is WA's geographically largest electorate, taking in towns such as Carnarvon, Coral Bay and Exmouth.
Mr Catania has held the seat since 2008, after initially being elected to the upper house in 2005.
The Nationals were the first to announce their candidate for the by-election, selecting local publican Merome Beard.
A post on Ms Beard's Facebook page shows she will officially launch her campaign on Friday, in an event that will also be used to farewell Mr Catania.
Other posts show Mr Catania will join Ms Beard, who used to work in his office, at a number of "mobile office" meetings across the region.
A qualified urban and regional planner, Will Baston will stand as the Liberal Party's candidate.
He has also worked as a consultant on "conservation and economic development outcomes for outback and regional Western Australia", according to the Liberal Party.
It is understood the Greens will also field a candidate, to be announced on Wednesday.
Awkward contest for opposition alliance
The by-election creates an awkward situation for the Liberal-National Alliance, with both sides having to compete for votes.
However, Deputy Liberal Leader Libby Mettam said yesterday that her party's interest was "not in competing and fighting against the National Party".
"We will be leading and campaigning in support of Will Baston, our Liberal Party candidate, and we hope that either Will Baston or the Nationals candidate will be elected," she said.
"Our position as the party representing all of Western Australia is to be giving people the option to vote for the Liberal Party and vote in a strong candidate, which is Will Baston."
An even more awkward result would be if the Liberal Party won the seat, leaving both it and the Nationals with an equal number of members in the Legislative Assembly.
It is a situation understood to be unprecedented, with no clear way of deciding who becomes the Opposition Leader, leaving the parties to negotiate an outcome.
If that eventuated, the Liberals would likely have the upper hand, given they have more members in both houses of parliament than the Nationals.
However, that is an unlikely result, given the Liberal Party received just 7.9 per cent of first preference votes at the last election, compared to the Nationals' 39.7 per cent.
The Nationals currently hold the seat on a slim margin of 1.7 per cent, or 259 votes.
