Labor still favoured to win WA election

(AAP) Labor remains a strong favourite to win the West Australian election despite the massive swing against the ALP government at the Northern Territory poll.

After the government led by Paul Henderson recorded a nine per cent swing against
it, former leader Clare Martin questioned her successor's calling of the election 11
months early.
Similar questions will now be asked of the West Australian government's decision to
go to the polls on September 6, six months before an election was due.
WA Premier Alan Carpenter called an election last Thursday, taking advantage of
opposition disarray just one day after the Liberal Party chose former leader Colin
Barnett to return to the job as the party's fourth leader in less than four years.
No reliable opinion polls have been taken as yet, but Labor remained a strong $1.20
favourite to win the election with Lasseters Sportsbook, against the $4.25 on offer
for the opposition.
"There's been absolutely no interest in this election today," Lasseters spokesman
Gerard Daffy said.
"It could mean that no one is using the NT election as a guide, it could mean that
we've got the odds about right, or it could mean that everybody is well and truly in
Olympic mode.
"The next 48 hours will tell."
Federal Acting Opposition Leader Julie Bishop, a West Australian and friend of Mr
Barnett, says she believes the results of the NT election will translate into a
similar swing against the Carpenter government on September 6.
"People will judge harshly a government that calls an early election to avoid public
scrutiny," Ms Bishop said.
"Mr Carpenter called an early election to avoid people learning more about the Labor
government and its shady dealings through the Corruption and Crime Commission.
"People don't like being used as pawns in the election process simply because the
government wants to avoid scrutiny."
But Mr Carpenter said while the close result puts his government on notice about its
own upcoming poll, the NT election occurred in different circumstances to those in
WA.
Mr Carpenter said the dynamics in WA politics were different to those in the NT, and
he discounted the likelihood he would be shown to have called an election too early.
"We were effectively looking at a six-to-eight month election campaign stretched out
in front of everybody, where everything I was saying and doing, and everything the
ministers were saying and doing, was being discounted as being said because an
election was looming," he said.
"We needed to get the situation sorted out to give us some certainty, some clarity,
end the cynicism and that's what we've done."
On the campaign trail, Mr Carpenter today promised to boost WA police numbers by 500
if it wins the September 6 poll, saying his government would employ an extra 100
police every year in addition to natural replacements.
"When this recruitment drive is complete we will take the total number of police in
WA to a new record of almost 6,000," Mr Carpenter told reporters.
He also promised an additional $20 million for funding of new or upgraded police
stations around the state and $31 million for the new Perth metropolitan police
radio network which was completed last year.
Mr Barnett promised to scrap WA's controversial prostitution laws by regulating the
industry in designated areas.
Labor's laws currently shift responsibility to councils to determine brothel
applications.
"A Liberal government will not allow the spreading of brothels throughout the
suburbs and towns of WA," Mr Barnett said.