Grylls set to contest Pilbara

Nationals WA and Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls is expected to announce a bold plan next week to resign from his safe Central Wheatbelt seat and run for the Labor-held Pilbara at the 2013 election.

The MP, who negotiated the Royalties for Regions scheme in 2008 to install the Barnett Government in a hung Parliament, would not comment on the speculation yesterday, but did not rule out the change.

"There will be no comment on the matter of whether Brendon will run for the Pilbara," a spokesman said.

"Minister Grylls said that at present nominations for all regional seats have been advertised and announcements will follow in due course."

But _The Weekend West _has been told that Mr Grylls believes he could wrestle the seat from Labor, which it holds by about 7.2 per cent and will be without retiring MP Tom Stephens.

Upper House Nationals MP Mia Davies is tipped to run in Mr Grylls' seat, which he holds by a massive 21 per cent margin.

If both MPs win, the Nationals could have at least six seats in the 2013 Parliament's Lower House and five in the Upper House.

"With the right candidate the Nationals could do it," Port Hedland mayor Kelly Howlett said yesterday.

"Last time they had a candidate they came second on preferences.

"Now we've had four years of Royalties for Regions so we can see the difference it has made."

Since 2008, Royalties for Regions has pumped millions into the Pilbara and Mr Grylls has focussed on a "Pilbara cities" vision for the region.

"You can't help to see the difference the Liberal/National Government has made," Ms Howlett, a former Greens candidate for the Pilbara, said.

On the back of Royalties for Regions, the Nationals are also expected to do well in WA's other Lower House country seats, including Albany and Collie-Preston, where the two sitting Labor MPs cling on to margins of less than 5 per cent.

Pilbara takes in the mining hubs of Port Hedland, Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Pannawonica and has been a Labor stronghold since the 1980s.