Labor fortunes revived in WA
Kevin Rudd's return as Prime Minister has sparked an astonishing double-digit turnaround in Labor's fortunes in WA, partly fuelled by Tony Abbott's deep unpopularity.
Leaked internal polling by ALP pollster UMR obtained by The West Australian has found the Government is on track to pinch the seat of Hasluck from the Liberals.
Only a few weeks ago under Julia Gillard, the ALP was at risk of winning none of the 15 Federal WA seats - now it is in the position of winning four.
UMR's July 11 polling of 350 people in Hasluck, held by Liberal Ken Wyatt, puts the ALP and the coalition 50-50 on two-party preferred status.
In May, when Ms Gillard was PM, the same pollster had the Liberals ahead 61-39 on the same measure in the seat.
"It's a remarkable switch. We have never seen anything like this," a senior Government source told _The West Australian _ yesterday.
On primary vote in Hasluck, the ALP (44 per cent) is narrowly behind the Liberals (45 per cent), with the Greens on 6 per cent, according to UMR.
At the 2010 election, Mr Wyatt beat sitting Labor MP Sharryn Jackson, recording 42 per cent of the primary vote compared with 37.5 per cent for Ms Jackson and 12.7 per cent for the Greens. After preferences he won by 948 votes.
Of concern to the Liberal Party will be UMR's findings on perceptions of the two leaders.
Mr Abbott has a disapproval rating of 57 per cent of voters in Hasluck and is approved by just 31 per cent, compared with Mr Rudd's 41 per cent disapproval and 48 per cent approval ratings.
On preferred PM status, Mr Rudd beat Mr Abbott 51-30. Liberal Party sources yesterday said there was growing concern that Mr Abbott had been caught underprepared for Mr Rudd's resurrection and had done too little on alternative policy.
Mr Rudd, who will visit WA this week, yesterday told a caucus meeting in Sydney that Hasluck was one of the eight seats that Labor could snatch from the coalition at the election, which could be held as soon as August 31. The Prime Minister is due to host a $2500-a-head boardroom dinner on Friday night in Perth at an undisclosed venue.
Mr Rudd yesterday secured historic changes to the ALP that will allow its 44,000 rank and file members to have a direct say on the party leadership, split 50-50 between the membership and the caucus.
Under the changes, the Labor leader can only face a ballot if 75 per cent of the caucus sign a petition, or 60 per cent where the ALP is in opposition.
"The party has decided to make sure that the PM who the people elect in the future will be the prime minister the people get in the future," Mr Rudd said.
Labor elder Stephen Smith spoke out against the change, as did former Cabinet minister Stephen Conroy and backbencher Nick Champion.
Retiring former frontbencher Greg Combet supported the change but told MPs that if a leader lost half of caucus support, the threshold would be irrelevant in practice.
