Advertisement

McGowan implores party to stay the course

Defeated Labor Leader Mark McGowan has urged his shattered party to "stay the course and remember what we stand for" shortly after conceding defeat to Premier Colin Barnett.

Invoking the memory of Labor greats who emerged from WA including John Curtin, Bob Hawke, Kim Beazley and Geoff Gallop, Mr McGowan declared the party would bounce back.

"We have so much to be proud of in our heritage and I know if we stay the course WA Labor will come back and be stronger than before as long as we stay the course and remember what we stand for," he said, to cheers from the small but spirited crowd at Rockingham's Gary Holland Community Centre.

Appearing on stage with his wife Sarah and two young sons Samuel and Alexander, Mr McGowan's speech was frequently applauded and followed with three cheers.

Saying Mr Barnett had graciously accepted victory and the pair "had a very nice little chat about the events of the past few weeks", Mr McGowan said the campaign was "always going to be very tough to win".

The NSW-born, 16-year WA parliamentary veteran said his adopted State had been very kind to him and he had enjoyed meeting so many people across the State during the campaign.

Mr McGowan said he remained very proud of the party's key policy, the Metronet public transport plan, and it and other platforms involving literacy and broadening the economy beyond mining would remain Labor ambitions.

Mr McGowan said while the State was strong, it needed to remember the less fortunate.

"My view is Western Australia's best years are ahead of us," he said.

"We need to always remember, there are people who are doing it tough in WA and as a government and a community we always need to reach out a helping hand.

"I think our values as a labor party are sound, a quality of opportunity for all, liftting the aspirations of all people across our state and making sure everyone has a fair go at a decent life, a good education, good health and oppportunities, a safe and secure future for them and their children and their grandchildren.

"They are the core values of the Labor Party, they are the things that will remain timeless forevermore, they are the things that make our party great."

Rounding out the speech with some humour in the face of defeat, Mr McGowan said his daughter Amelia, 3 - who was at home in bed - had been "the star" of the campaign and predicted she would be the first premier of WA in pigtails.