The microphones had barely been switched off after Premier Mark McGowan’s shock retirement announcement before speculation over his replacement began.
WA Deputy Premier Roger Cook,Transport Minister Rita Saffioti,Premier Mark McGowan,Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.Getty/AAP
It is little wonder the Labor Party would prefer the next premier of the state be decided by the party ahead of the next caucus meeting.
If more than one person is officially nominated under Labor’s leadership selection rules (brought in following the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years) what will follow is 33 days of internal party voting that would get very public,rapidly.
It is likely this won’t occur,however,with the three-horse race of Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson,Deputy Premier Roger Cook and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti already narrowing.
Cook and Sanderson will have had a nail-biting night.
Both are powerbrokers in the left faction and both hail from the United Workers sub-faction of that union,known internally as the “Missos”.
There are about 14 MPs aligned with the metalworkers’ faction,so they will be key to winning the left faction given personal relationships will factor heavily into who United Workers-aligned MPs support.
Three hours after McGowan’s announcement,Cook declared he was putting his hand up for the role,describing the need for a safe pair of hands and “continuity”.
It was a bold move,though,internally,some have considered it desperate and indicated that Cook knew he did not have the numbers.
Sanderson is shaping up as a leading contender though she is the only minister of the three who did not publicly declare her decision on Monday.
Twenty-six of the left’s MPs (UWU-aligned) will to hash it out.
Saffioti has a high profile with the public and on Monday afternoon confirmed she was speaking with her parliamentary colleagues.
Where she will stumble is her independence from Labor’s left and right factions.
WAtoday understands she has cast the net wide while pulling for numbers but the left faction’s overwhelming majority of more than 40 MPs from Labor’s 73 means she will lose to Cook and Sanderson in any attempt to persuade caucus to throw votes her way.
She may like to pursue the position with a whole-of-party-vote where she could possibly sway the votes of lay party members,but this is not a surefire guarantee,and it would prove gruelling and possibly damaging for her career if she didn’t win.
By putting her hand up so early,however,she may have given herself leverage to elevate herself in cabinet to deputy premier or treasurer in exchange for bowing out of the race.
Treasury is a role the former economist has coveted in the past.
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