It's election day in Western Australia and the polls have officially opened. Voters are lining up to cast their ballots to decide who will lead the state over the next four years. After eight years in power, Labor looks set for a comfortable victory, but the Liberal Party are hoping to claw back some seats.
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00:00You can see behind me here, this polling booth is really starting to come to life.
00:06The sausage sizzle is underway.
00:08All of my senses are starting to get really excited and rather hungry too.
00:11I haven't had any breakfast yet, but there are some baked goods there as well.
00:15The polling booth is starting to kind of come to life a bit.
00:18There's been a steady stream of people trickling in, getting their votes in ahead of the rest
00:23of their weekend activities, but we're not expecting too many crowds here today.
00:27We know that already more than 500,000 West Australians have cast their votes, so hopefully
00:34still more people to turn up here today, but yes, a busy day ahead.
00:37Okay, if voting isn't mandatory, at least the democracy sausages will get them out as
00:42well.
00:43Now, let's talk about the politics of this election.
00:47You're in Roger Cook, the Premier's electorate there, and this election has been described
00:53as a bit of a David and Goliath battle.
00:56How do you see the election playing out?
01:01That's right.
01:02Well, this is Roger Cook's first election as leader, so of course we know that Labor
01:07has enjoyed a comfortable eight years in power here in WA.
01:13Labor currently holds around 53 of the 59 seats in the lower house.
01:17They also hold power in both parties after their 2021 landslide victory under Mark McGowan.
01:24We know that that was due to reasons around COVID.
01:27There was a bit of an iron curtain, it was described as, around the borders, and that
01:31made West Australians very happy here in WA, but of course there are other issues that
01:36have popped up since.
01:37There's the housing, the cost of living crisis, ambulance ramping, health and hospitals, so
01:43no doubt that will be a bit of a chink in Labor's armour, but we'll see how that all
01:47plays out later in the day today.
01:49The Liberal Party currently only hold two seats.
01:52They aren't the opposition here, the Nationals are the opposition here in WA, but they are
01:56expecting to claw back more seats.
01:58We are expected to see a bit of a swing towards the Liberals here in WA, particularly in the
02:03regional and outer suburban seats.
02:07Around 12 seats we're seeing in contention, but of course that's nowhere near the 30 that
02:11they would need to form government.
02:12So looking like a comfortable Labor victory, but of course it's politics, anything can
02:16happen and we'll just have to wait and see how that all plays out later today.