Sombre mood at Labor HQ

It was such a sombre mood among the WA Labor camp on election night that one of the only cheers from the crowd came when an image of the party’s leader appeared on the television.

Less than 100 people gathered in Mark McGowan’s electorate of Rockingham tonight.

Heading into the State election, it looked like Labor was going to lose.

But no one expected political experts to begin calling the result before 7.30pm.

“It looks terrible. What a bloodbath,” one Labor supporter lamented.

Deputy leader of the Opposition Roger Cook was the only Labor politician to front the venue early in the evening and admitted to reporters that it was looking like a tough night ahead for his party.

“We need to just wait and see how the night develops,” he said.

Mr Cook said there was still a sense of anticipation because it was early in the count.

He said there was a sense of pride in how the election campaign had been run by Labor.

“We believe we’ve run a very competitive campaign for a party that obviously doesn’t have the resources to draw upon that the Liberal party does,” he said.

“We’ve brought forward bold policies, bold visions for Western Australia.”

Mr Cook also admitted there had been some damage to the Labor brand from the Federal Government.

“To what extent it had a role to play in the State election is very difficult to say,” he said.

They may be headed for a whitewash in the election, but at least there is plenty of good food to eat while Labor supporters drown their sorrows.