Liberal Party Wins Government in Western Australia

By Robert Fenner

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Colin Barnett will become the next premier of Western Australia after his Liberal Party won National Party support for a coalition government, opening the way for uranium mining and genetically modified crops in the state.

The National Party received ``very good'' proposals from the Liberals and incumbent Labor Party before making its decision, Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls told reporters in Perth today. The Liberals won 24 seats in the 59-seat lower house and will form a government with the support of four Nationals and two independent members, ending a week of uncertainty after the Sept. 6 poll left no party with a majority.

Barnett, who promised to open up uranium mines and allow genetically modified crops, will head a state that accounts for a third of the nation's exports with 10 percent of its population.

``Those key policies of uranium and genetically modified crops will come through very quickly,'' said Peter Van Onselen, associate professor in political science at Perth's Edith Cowan University. ``Between them they also control the upper house.''

Nationals lawmakers will reserve the right to vote against government policy, unlike traditional Liberal-National coalition governments which present united policies.

``We took this very seriously,'' Grylls said today. ``We are not prepared to go into a traditional coalition, so we'll be accepting ministries based on being independent ministers.''

Current Premier Alan Carpenter called the election on Aug. 6, two days after Barnett's predecessor Troy Buswell quit as leader after admitting he snapped a staffer's bra strap and sniffed the chair of a female colleague. Labor had promised to maintain its ban on uranium in a state that holds as much as 10 percent of the world's reserves. Carpenter today resigned as Labor leader.

Monopoly Broken

Carpenter, who became premier in January 2006, called the election five months before it was due, the earliest in Western Australia in 100 years. Labor has been in power in the state since February 2001 and forms government in all states and territories, as well as at the federal level.

Barnett, who led the Liberals to defeat in 2005, was set to retire from politics before replacing Buswell as party leader.

The Liberal Party has said it will increase mining royalties if BHP Billiton Ltd.'s hostile takeover bid for smaller rival Rio Tinto Group succeeds. The Liberals want to introduce trials of genetically-modified cotton and canola in the state and overturn a band on uranium mining.

Barnett's minority government will be the first in Western Australian history and the nation's first since Nick Greiner needed the support of independent lawmakers in 1991 to retain power in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state.

The Nationals, who gain most of their electoral support from rural and regional areas, are seeking to use their numbers in the lower house to push their ``Royalties for Regions'' agenda. The plan would see a quarter of royalty payments from mining projects invested in local, rural projects such as improvement to roads and new schools.

``We're the Nationals, we're from the country, and I'd expect to be driving a hard deal every time I'm at the table,'' Grylls said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Melbourne rfenner@bloomberg.net