WA election 2025: Libby Mettam adamant her ‘mountain to climb’ is scaleable despite polls

Well behind in the polls and swamped by Labor’s resources and majority, Libby Mettam is refusing to make the same blunder as one of her predecessors by admitting defeat. If there is one quality that stands out about the Geraldton-raised Liberal leader and former journalist, it is her dogged determination and never-say-die attitude. Speaking to The West Australian 22 days out from the election, Ms Mettam remained adamant her “mountain to climb” is scaleable. Unlike Zak Kirkup, who infamously admitted he could not beat Mark McGowan by conceding “it’s not my time” two weeks before the 2021 election, Ms Mettam said the confronting task at hand had “only made me stronger”. Pollsters, bookies and many punters agree dethroning Roger Cook is out of the question for the Liberals, who were reduced to just two seats in the Legislative Assembly and seven seats in the Legislative Council at the previous poll. For this election, Newspoll has the Liberals trailing Labor 56-44 on the two-party preferred vote in WA. Still, she refuses to entertain the notion that a respectable loss could be a pass-mark for her. “I think people recognise the significant mountain we have to climb,” Ms Mettam said. “I accept every commentator states that they don’t believe that we can win. “But West Australians have not had that opportunity to vote yet, and I respect their votes.” Asked if her eternally optimistic position on the election was an effort to avoid the same mistake as Mr Kirkup, she insisted it was about respecting people’s right to vote. Ms Mettam will not say if she will stay on as Liberal leader in the event of a loss, simply adding: “My focus is on winning the election.” The West spent the day with Ms Mettam on Friday, with the 47-year-old talking about her motivation, her desire to succeed and also opening up about her worst moment in public life. That was when she and Cottesloe MP David Honey returned to the Legislative Assembly in early-April 2021, as the only surviving Liberals after the wipeout loss to Mr McGowan’s Labor. “We had the clerks in the house trying to figure out what our seating positions would be,” she said. That result also meant Nationals MP Shane Love was the official leader of the Opposition, draining the Liberals of the resources needed to take the fight to Labor. Ms Mettam has just four full-time staff. The same day The West accompanied her, Mr Cook was on a Government-issued jet to Geraldton, a perk also granted to Mr Love, but not to her. Brutally, the lack of title means she did not, until the start of the campaign, get a driver as she manages travel from her home in Dunsborough — where she lives with her winemaker husband Jonathan — to Perth and back. She’s racked up nearly 400,000 kilometres in her Toyota Prado. So it’s no surprise to hear Ms Mettam’s day usually starts at 5am and she’ll squeeze a morning walk in when possible. When The West met her before 10am, she’d already had her 7am conference call followed by meetings. An interview at her regular cafe, Little Gordon Street in West Perth, was followed by a press conference, campaign stops across three seats, door knocking, more meetings and an event in the evening. Ever a happy warrior, there was no sign the gruelling schedule or the near-certain defeat had taken a toll. She was engaged and cheerful whether chatting to a man in budgy smugglers at the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club or when knocking on doors in the heat with Morley candidate Aswath Chavittupara. In fact Ms Mettam believes the confronting task has “only made me stronger”. Her morning also includes catching up with her two daughters, Bianca and Sophia, on the east coast. In July, Bianca, her eldest, gave birth to Remi, making Ms Mettam a grandmother and she said her children have taught her that family is “what is truly important in life”. After growing up in Geraldton, Ms Mettam left to study broadcasting and ended up working for Seven, Nine and ABC South West. “I was very interested in people and issues, and in media you were always getting across a range of issues, but there was no follow up in actually resolving the issues that had been highlighted,” she said. “The benefit I saw with politics is that you were having a role in actually addressing those issues too.” Thus her political career was born, and she started in 2014 when she replaced scandal-prone former treasurer Troy Buswell at a by-election in the south west electorate of Vasse. Ms Mettam said one of the most important moments of her political career so far was chairing the Enough is Enough inquiry into sexual harassment and assaults on WA mine sites. “That has had a lasting legacy on the safety of women in workplaces, not only across WA, but it drew a spotlight nationally and internationally,” she said. She is also proud of helping to defeat the Government’s calamitous Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act shortly after it was enacted. Ms Mettam entered Parliament when the Liberals were on the government benches, but the tables have now well and truly turned. A redistribution effectively leaves the Government defending 54 out of 59 seats, with the Liberals and Nationals on five combined. Ms Mettam insists the electorate will swing back as they look at the Cook Government’s record. Newspoll has predicted a swing towards the Liberals of almost 14 per cent, which could see the Opposition alliance pick up another 12 seats if sustained evenly across the State. “There really isn’t that much that this Government, this Premier, can point to when he has had the ability to really deliver for Western Australia,” Ms Mettam said. “There is a lot riding on this election. This Government do not deserve another term. (People) are concerned that they won’t access health care in their time of need. They’re struggling to put food on the table. The housing crisis is holding back communities.” On whether she has managed to build up the necessary profile to dethrone Mr Cook, Ms Mettam pointed to her “diminished resources”. And on if a certain Liberal candidate for Churchlands has made things harder by stealing her thunder, she replied: “Basil is a key part of our team.” None of the Liberals with a chance to win have had experience as ministers. This is something Labor has seized on its advertising, but which Ms Mettam defends. “We have outstanding candidates on the ground who have a range of different backgrounds, they’re not union hacks,” she said. “Look at the experience we’ve had so far under Labor over the last eight years, I would say we don’t need any more of Labor’s experience.” And she had a one-word answer on if she’s ever thought of throwing in the towel; “no”.