Monday, September 15, 2008



Western Australia gets a government

A week after their state elections, it looks like Western Australia finally has a government, after the (country) National Party decided to back a Liberal-led minority government. Unusually, though, they're staying out of formal coalition, instead pursuing an NZ-style confidence and supply arrangement in exchange for some fairly hefty policy concessions. This gives them the best of both worlds - they get their policies, and they get to keep control rather than being constantly outvoted by their coalition "partner" in a shared caucus.

So, it looks like the Labour monopoly at state level is over. Such are the joys of a federal system.