Mark McGowan must see his critics aren’t just cranks after People’s Voice poll shows drop in approval rating

For almost two years, Mark McGowan has portrayed himself as standing up for WA. In 2020 he stood up against Clive Palmer’s bid to rip down the hard border in the High Court, initially with the support of the Federal Government. Last year he stood up against anti-vaxxers who protested his Government’s vaccine mandate policies, and twisted individuals who threatened him personally. And on Tuesday, on the first sitting day of Parliament for 2022, he returned to the same theme which has served Labor so well. This time he was coming under pressure from the National-Liberal Opposition to set a new border opening date. “We had to do what was required,” McGowan told Question Time in defence of his decision to abandon the February 5 reopening. “Governments, particularly in a pandemic, require people who are prepared to do difficult things and I know, I get criticised every day— every day — at length. “A group of people at the front of Parliament, or the back of Parliament I think it is today, criticising what we’ve done. “But I tell you what, I wouldn’t undo saving West Australian lives no matter what they say — no matter what they say. “Saving West Australians lives and saving West Australians jobs is my job and I’m going to continue to do that.” This WA-first, live-saving rhetoric would have cut-through with the public in 2020 when the Premier’s approval rating was at 91 per cent. It would have been received favourably by the overwhelming majority in 2021 when well over 80 per cent were satisfied with his performance. But with an approval rating of 64 per cent, McGowan can no longer dismiss his critics as cranks, political enemies and “Eastern States commentators”. One-in-four respondents to the latest People’s Voice Poll were also dissatisfied with the job he’s doing and 11 per cent were on the fence. That suggests the border delay was met with dismay by far more West Australians than those who protest outside Parliament. A new date will be announced in the next two weeks and soon after that, I expect, the border will be consigned to the history books. How many “lives and jobs” were saved due to the delay will be difficult to quantify in the months to come, but the loss of trust felt by some voters in recent weeks might never be regained.

Mark McGowan must see his critics aren’t just cranks after People’s Voice poll shows drop in approval rating

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