Every 12 years, the political stars align, resulting in the Western Australian Election and the Federal Election occurring in the same year.
Ironically in the same 12-yearly Chinese Year of the Snake, 2025 is one where West Australians will flock to the ballot box not once, but twice.
This usually produces a conundrum for political parties at State and Federal level, with a double-election often causing policy confusion, voter fatigue and accusations of speaking with forked tongues.
For the Australian Labor Party, which holds Government in both WA and Federally, this year could prove to be its downfall.
There has already been one policy which divided WA Labor and Federal Labor: the Nature Positive laws.
This legislation was first introduced by Federal Labor but the problem for WA Labor is local mining projects are a key part of the State’s economy.
Each year, WA mines produce majority of the nation’s resources at a value of approximately $238 billion .
The sector also delivers mining royalties to the WA Government each year, with forecast revenue to State coffers of more than $9 billion for 2024-25.
This has directly bolstered the State’s balance sheet, feeding into budget surpluses that have kept WA Labor in favour with WA voters for so long.
In a severe policy backflip, and on the eve of the WA Election campaign officially beginning, Federal Labor decided to scrap the Nature Positive legislation from Parliament.
Whether it has been scrapped for good, or whether this was an eleventh-hour attempt at winning favour with its WA counterparts, remains to be seen.
But it’s not all a battle between the two Labor parties: there are other industries and issues that will act as glue to bind them together, including artificial intelligence.
This is unsurprising as governments around the world scramble to regulate this rapidly growing industry.
At a state level, the WA Labor Government has embraced AI with open arms, appointing seven local experts to its newly developed ‘AI Advisory Board’, which will advise the Government on safe use of AI in the public sector.
At a national level, the Federal Labor Government launched a National AI Capability Plan in late 2024, designed to advance investment, skills, capabilities, and economic returns made from the tech.
Like any trend, if you don’t jump on board, you’ll be left treading water.
Another connecting issue working in Labor’s favour is housing: a sector often difficult to score political points, with long-lasting worker shortages, limited land supply and broader supply chain issues hampering construction and delivery of affordable housing across the nation.
WA Labor leveraged housing to launch its re-election campaign late last year, by committing to building nearly 2,000 social housing properties. The party also committed over $16 million for the construction of 20 housing developments, which could deliver 1,560 homes.
During the same week, the Federal Labor leader was in Perth spruiking support for the commitment while also promoting its own $32 billion plan to deliver one million homes across Australia.
Housing has traditionally been a major campaign issue in every Election, regardless of state or political party: after all, everyone needs a roof over their head.
Policies from all parties on the political spectrum will start to appear in news cycles and social media over the next few weeks, as we edge closer to the WA Election on 8 March.
Word on the street is the Federal Government could launch the official Federal campaign the very next day, meaning West Australians will have to head to the polls again in mid-April.
It will be in Labor’s best interest to make differences between their State and Federal campaigns as clear as mud to avoid policy confusion and voter fatigue.
The stakes are high: as they say in politics, parties don’t win elections, Government’s lose them.