Disunity but not death for Basil Zempilas and WA Liberals after MP quits

There are plenty of questions for Basil Zempilas and the WA Liberals after Jonathan Huston (left) quit the party. (ABC News: Courtney Withers) Link copiedShareShare articleBasil Zempilas has had his first brush with the political truism "disunity is death". Luckily for him, chances are — at this stage at least — the Liberal leader won't be the one in a political grave because of it. The decision of Nedlands MP Jonathan Huston to quit the party that elected him just over a year ago was hardly shocking to his colleagues. More surprising was the policy which prompted his departure: raising mining royalties to fund the abolition of payroll tax and the creation of a sovereign wealth fund. Elected to represent the Liberal heartland seat of Nedlands just last year, Jonathan Huston announces he is quitting the party. "If your personal philosophy is to increase taxes and charges for Western Australian businesses to fund your own agenda, you are not a conservative or aligned with the Liberal Party's values," veteran MP Steve Thomas said. "Such an agenda, with its in-built antipathy to the mining sector which powers WA and delivers 46 per cent of our economy, belongs with the communist party, the Greens, or perhaps an independent." Zempilas similarly rubbished the idea — one which Huston had argued matched Liberal Party values because it was a practical way of eliminating the scourge of payroll tax. Huston's discovery of his independent streak has prompted plenty of questions, including why he ran for the Liberals in the first place (he'd hoped to convince his colleagues of the merits of his idea) and when Zempilas first knew of the divergence (it's unclear). It's perhaps more easily brushed off than it otherwise would be because few, certainly among Liberal MPs, appear likely to miss Huston's presence in their partyroom. Jonathan Huston's decision to leave the Liberals stems from a policy disagreement on mining royalties. (ABC News: Keane Bourke) One indicated the member for Nedlands never formally raised his ideas with colleagues. Zempilas hinted at the same. Huston admits to being a member of the Liberals "on and off" over the years, and two party sources noted he had an independent streak which didn't mesh with the unity required by a political party. Putting all that to one side, his divergence on a key Liberal policy — how to ensure the immense wealth of Western Australia is shared with its residents — highlights a key tension for the party, particularly amid the rise of One Nation. Precisely how worried the Liberals should be about One Nation is in the west is hard to gauge. A DemosAU poll of 1,015 WA voters conducted between late May and early June puts the minor party at third most popular on primary vote (18 per cent), behind Labor (33 per cent) and the Liberals (23 per cent). Pauline Hanson was in Perth earlier this month as a poll suggested a popularity surge for One Nation. (ABC News: Keane Bourke) That's just one poll, and hardly enough to draw meaningful conclusions from. Nationally, the support for One Nation is much higher. Their rise is something Zempilas is alert to, having declared — unprompted at a business breakfast — that he has an "open mind" to working with Pauline Hanson and co. As Basil Zempilas flirts with One Nation, will the right-wing populist party drag the WA Liberals down again, or will it become a life raft on the way to a political resurrection? Their populist policies, like a new royalty on gas production, appear similar in some ways to Huston's idea of taxing the rich to give to the poor. That's not to say he's eyeing off a switch from blue to orange, having told 102.5 ABC Perth he's "not concerned with One Nation". "I think that would be a very poor choice for anybody in the seat of Nedlands," he added. It does though raise the question posed endlessly in the party's attempts to rebuild support at state and federal levels: how do the Liberals recapture the attention of voters? Is their path to victory reclaiming the traditional political centre Labor has captured in recent years? Or should they take lessons from the playbook of parties like One Nation and consider what might be considered more populist or non-traditional policies? Basil Zempilas faced the media on Thursday to make clear his party did not want to raise mining royalties. On this occasion, Zempilas has chosen a more traditional path, particularly in a state like WA where many people do benefit directly from the prosperity associated with the resources industry. That prosperity also provides the sector with deep pockets to fund campaigns against any disadvantageous changes. "That's not something we will stand for," Zempilas said of raising royalties. "We know of the significant investment that goes into producing that wealth for Western Australia. We can't compromise it." Huston, on the other hand, believes there's a desire in the community for miners to pay a greater price for the ben

Disunity but not death for Basil Zempilas and WA Liberals after MP quits

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