Dylan Caporn: Libby Mettam needs to convince Liberal Party of her leadership credentials before WA election

Standing alongside her deputy Steve Martin and Upper House counterpart Peter Collier on Tuesday morning, Liberal leader Libby Mettam drove home the emphatic nature of her victory. Having stared down the “cowards in the shadows”, Mettam defeated a proposal to install Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas as the party’s campaign leader. Speculation had mounted for weeks over Mettam’s poor performances in press conferences and whether she would have the capacity to take it up to Labor during a bruising election campaign. Mettam called the speculation, highlighted by polling published in The West that predicted another disaster at the polls, mischievous. “Understandably, given the mischief of this poll, which has been completely discredited, it has raised potentially some concern,” she said. “But we are united. We are positive about our future and I’m focused on the issues that matter to Western Australia. That is what people want us to be focused on.” Mischief underplays the long path towards this moment. The Liberals have won a majority of seats in the Parliament just once this century. The reality for Mettam is that after eight long years in Opposition — and five Liberal leaders since 2017 — the party has yet to truly unite and there’s a harsh electoral reality behind it. As internal powerbrokers grapple with control, the needs of blue-ribbon seats along the Swan River are pitted against those of the suburbs and the bush. How can the party win back the base and the ‘burbs at the same time? Once described as a “broad church”, the WA Liberals are being pulled in many directions as the need to grow the number of MPs to a more dignified level necessitates. And that broad church will be a little smaller this week. Within an hour Mettam’s victory, the party’s shadow treasurer Neil Thomson revealed to The West that he would stand down from the frontbench after the motion he moved failed. And the internal response will not just end there, with Collier warning those who had leaked against Mettam to do some “soul searching”. “How can I put this discretely? If they didn’t do anything wrong, they’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said. “(They should) think perhaps that wasn’t the most appropriate manner in which I handled that situation. “Is my prime focus on doing all that I can to get rid of the Labor Party to do what I’ve done, or should I work in concert with the parliamentary party so that we’ll all row in the same direction.” Despite the fact eight years in Opposition has passed by, with no hope of escape, Mettam says she can become premier next March. Her party needs to believe her to make it even a chance of becoming reality.