NAT 8.4%
Incumbent MP
- Shane Love (Nationals), member for Mid-West since 2013.
- Merome Beard (Liberal), member for North West Central since 2022.
- Geography
- Redistribution
- History
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2021 results
- Booth breakdown
- Results maps
Geography
Mid-West covers a large part of the north of the state, stretching from Coral Bay to the northern fringe of Perth, with an exception of the area around Geraldton. Most of the seat’s population lies to the south of Geraldton.
Redistribution
Mid-West is an amalgamation of the former seats of Moore and North West Central, with about 80% of the voters coming from Moore, while most of the land mass came from North West Central.
History
Mid-West is a new seat, primarily replacing the seat of Moore, but also taking over a majority of voters from the seat of North West Central.
Moore was a traditional Country/National seat that was held by the party from 1950 until the mid-1980s.
In 1985 the sitting National Country MP switched to the Liberal Party. The Liberals held the seat from 1985 until 2008. Bill McNee held the seat from 1989 until 2005.
The 2008 redistribution saw the abolition of the National-held seat of Greenough, and Moore effectively was redrawn to cover most of the two pre-existing electorates.
Grant Woodhams had won Greenough for the Nationals in 2005. Prior to his election, the Liberal Party had held the seat since 1945.
In 2008, Woodhams was pitted against Liberal Member for Moore Gary Snook. While Snook led on the primary vote (40% against 32%) he benefited from Labor preferences and won the seat with 53.1% of the vote after preferences.
Woodhams retired after one term, and he was succeeded by Nationals candidate Shane Love. Love was re-elected in 2017 and 2021. Love was elected leader of the Nationals in early 2023.
The seat of North West Central can be traced back to the seat of North West Coastal, formed in 2005 from parts of the abolished seats of Burrup and Ningaloo. Both seats had existed since 1996.
Burrup was held over those nine years by the ALP’s Fred Riebeling, and Ningaloo was held by Rod Sweetman for the Liberal Party.
In 2005, Riebeling ran for the ALP in North West Coastal while Sweetman was unsuccessful in finding a seat elsewhere for either the Liberal Party or Family First. Riebeling won the seat despite a small swing to the Liberal Party.
In 2008, Riebeling retired and the ALP ran Vince Catania, who had served one term in the Legislative Council. Sweetman returned to run for the Liberals. The seat was renamed to North West after more areas further from the coast were added to the seat.
Catania won with no swing against him, despite only polling 36% of the vote, and the combined vote for the Liberal and National candidates almost reaching 49%. The Liberal candidate came second, with the Nationals a close third.
Catania resigned from the ALP and joined the Nationals in 2009, and he was re-elected to represent the renamed seat of North West Central in 2013, 2017 and 2021.
Catania resigned from parliament in 2022, and the subsequent by-election was won by Nationals candidate Merome Beard.
Beard resigned from the Nationals in October 2023 in order to join the Liberal Party.
Assessment
This is a hard seat to pick, but it seems more likely the Nationals will hold the seat. Love is his party’s leader, and most of the voters in Mid-West have come from his seat. But Beard’s prospects as a Liberal couldn’t be ruled out.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Shane Love | Nationals | 8,353 | 38.0 | +1.1 | 38.6 |
| Barni Norton | Labor | 7,432 | 33.8 | +13.9 | 34.0 |
| Darren Slyns | Liberal | 3,701 | 16.8 | -2.0 | 16.3 |
| Ross Williamson | Shooters, Fishers & Farmers | 984 | 4.5 | -1.3 | 4.1 |
| Brian Spittles | Greens | 638 | 2.9 | -1.0 | 2.7 |
| Ian Henry Frizzell | One Nation | 579 | 2.6 | -10.1 | 2.7 |
| T Asmutaitis | No Mandatory Vaccination | 233 | 1.1 | +1.1 | 1.0 |
| Richard Banka | WAxit | 86 | 0.4 | +0.4 | 0.4 |
| Others | 0.1 | ||||
| Informal | 855 | 3.7 |
2021 two-party-preferred result – Moore
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Redist |
| Shane Love | Nationals | 12,870 | 58.5 | 58.4 |
| Barni Norton | Labor | 9,132 | 41.5 | 41.6 |
2021 result – North West Central
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Cherie Sibosado | Labor | 3,114 | 40.2 | +13.5 |
| Vince Catania | Nationals | 3,075 | 39.7 | +3.6 |
| Alys McKeough | Liberal | 611 | 7.9 | -7.9 |
| Sandy Burt | Greens | 318 | 4.1 | -1.5 |
| Robert Tonkin | One Nation | 232 | 3.0 | -8.4 |
| Stefan Colagiuri | Shooters, Fishers & Farmers | 233 | 3.0 | +2.6 |
| A Agyputri | No Mandatory Vaccination | 81 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Henry Seddon | Independent | 40 | 0.5 | +0.5 |
| Brendan McKay | WAxit | 37 | 0.5 | +0.2 |
| Informal | 367 | 4.5 |
2021 two-party-preferred result – North West Central
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Vince Catania | Nationals | 3,997 | 51.7 | -8.4 |
| Cherie Sibosado | Labor | 3,738 | 48.3 | +8.4 |
2022 by-election result – North West Central
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Merome Beard | Nationals | 2,042 | 40.2 | +0.4 |
| Will Baston | Liberal | 1,353 | 26.6 | +18.7 |
| Niels Glahn-Bertelsen | Greens | 635 | 12.5 | +8.4 |
| Leanne Lockyer | Legalise Cannabis | 269 | 5.3 | +5.3 |
| Andrea Randle | Western Australia Party | 202 | 4.0 | +4.0 |
| Gerald Laurent | One Nation | 197 | 3.9 | +0.9 |
| Anthony Fels | Western Australia Party | 108 | 2.1 | +2.1 |
| Aaron Horsman | No Mandatory Vaccination | 82 | 1.6 | +0.6 |
| Peter Dunne | Independent | 55 | 1.1 | +1.1 |
| Peter Baker | Small Business Party | 55 | 1.1 | +1.1 |
| Tony Stokes | Independent | 44 | 0.9 | +0.9 |
| Jake McCoull | Liberal Democrats | 42 | 0.8 | +0.8 |
| Informal | 251 | 4.7 |
2022 by-election two-party-preferred result – North West Central
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Merome Beard | Nationals | 3,071 | 60.5 | |
| Will Baston | Liberal | 2,008 | 39.5 |
Polling places have been split into four parts. Three of the four areas are in the southern end of the electorate, south of Geraldton. This area was split into south, mid-south and mid-north. The remainder was grouped as “north”.
The Nationals two-party-preferred vote ranging from 52.4 in the south to 70.5% in the mid-south.
The Liberal Party came third, with a primary vote ranging from 6.5% in the north to 21.2% in the mid-south.
| Voter group | LIB prim % | NAT 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 16.5 | 52.4 | 3,735 | 20.4 |
| Mid-South | 21.2 | 70.5 | 2,548 | 13.9 |
| Mid-North | 17.9 | 61.7 | 2,229 | 12.2 |
| North | 6.5 | 59.2 | 1,030 | 5.6 |
| Other votes | 16.3 | 57.8 | 4,714 | 25.7 |
| Pre-poll | 14.6 | 54.7 | 4,058 | 22.2 |
Election results in Mid-West at the 2021 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Nationals, Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
Election results at the 2022 North West Central by-election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Nationals vs Liberal) and primary votes for the Nationals, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
nats can threaten to run in liberal seats all they want they wont get anywhere in the metro area and i think they will beat Beard anyway. Beard is better off trying in Pilbara if you ask me
There’s also the Labor-held seat of Geraldton to go for – a seat that the non-Labor parties NEED to win back for a larger opposition.
Agree John, from what I read Merome Beard resides in Carnarvon which is at the northern end of this district. It is also quite close to Exmouth which has been moved into Pilbara as of this redistribution.
Since Exmouth is also one of the major centres in her existing (soon to be abolished) seat of North West Central, she would have some name recognition and would be a strong challenger against Kevin Michel (incumbent Labor MP for Pilbara).
Agreed and after redistribution Pilbara should be more favourable to the coalition
Merome Beard Doesn’t understand the concept of “democracy” she was elected as a National, the people didn’t want a Liberal MP. And she should have resigned and triggered a by-election if she believed the Liberals were better in North-West Central. How many more times do the people of this region need to be tricked by an MP who switches parties?
She only switched because of political ambitions. She knows she is more likely to be a minister of some sorts under the Liberals. So she took some bargain (I dare say corrupt)
WA Liberals will at best gain 10 seats in 2025.
@daniel T shes done it because of the redistribution she would have been barred from running for Mid-west as shane love was the senior mp of the two. and shes hoping to build brand recognition to get herself relected.
Agree that people should not just shift parties. If they.are in one party and change to
Another they should.cause a by-election and let the voters decide
@Mick I think it’s okay to switch between Coalition parties. Leslie Williams did that in Port Macquarie (switched from National to Liberal) and was easily re-elected in a Liberal vs National contest (Labor did so badly they finished third).
However it’s probably different in WA where the parties are not in a formal coalition whereas in NSW they are.
it looks like they both be contesting mid-west now
@mick & daniel in the lower house you dont vote for a party directly you vote for a person who just happens to be a member of that particular party and if they choose to leave that party they keep the seat otherwise if a person fell out of favour with their party and the party wanted someone else they could just kick them out of the party and replcae the member easily.
Picking that the Lib candidate Beard will try to quietly withdraw her nomination just before Christmas. The Nats with their leader Love will win this with a bigger majority.
What will be interesting to watch is Geraldton which now takes in some of Loves old seat. Expecting this to be a Nat gain.
@nick she will likely run but yes love will win. Should regain Geraldton and Warren Blackwood. They will have a good go at Albany and Kalgoorlie too
The Nats won’t win Kalgoorlie – the voting demographic they built up 15 years ago on the back of Tony Crook winning O’Connor has long since dissipated. Their candidate at the 2021 state election struggled to crack 10% of the primary vote – a long way back from there.
I disagree at person when they get elected are unless an independent a representative of the political party who endorses them. The voters have every right to expect that person to stay with their party. This is especially the case with pr ballots eg senate and state upper houses. Lydia Thorpe was elected as a green but she is now independent.. she should resign and let the greens fill her seat according to their processes.Ms Beard was elected as a national not a liberal if she had stood as a liberal she would not have been elected
@Huxley Brown either the Liberals or the Nationals will win it. Also, Tony Crook was a federal MP.
Yes Nether. O’Connor is a Federal electorate with the state electorate of Kalgoorlie within.
Why did voters in the small town of Cue just randomly switch from National to Liberal at the by-election? Was the Liberal candidate from there or was it just random?
@Huxley Brown yes but state Nationals do better than federal Nationals in WA. In fact for some reason they do better on the state level in NSW and Victoria too.
@NP, WA Nationals aren’t in a Coalition with WA Libs (unlike other States) hence they act more like a third party (or technically an opposition for now thank from the 2021 Election results) portraying themselves an independent from the Metropolitan Libs
@Marh exactly, and they actually campaign in WA on the state level too unlike on the federal level where they don’t campaign too much in WA.
I would note though that there is sort of a Coalition in WA, it’s just not formal and the parties are more independent of each other than in NSW or Victoria.
nationals do better at a state level becase te electorates are smaler and more concentrated.
@John I’m talking about in individual booths.