Steve Thomas stays in Liberal Leader Libby Mettam’s shadow ministry despite Brian Burke controversy

Steve Thomas has been returned to Liberal Leader Libby Mettam’s shadow ministry three days after resigning over his dealings with fallen former Labor premier Brian Burke. The reprieve comes despite Dr Thomas keeping his interactions with Mr Burke — which included asking the political fixer to tee up a briefing with prominent businessman John Poynton — concealed from Ms Mettam for a month. Dr Thomas has been stripped of his position as deputy leader, shadow treasurer and leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council but retains the key portfolio of energy as well as industrial relations. That was despite Dr Thomas’ conversations with Mr Burke about the future of Collie’s coal mines and electricity plants being directly related to the energy portfolio. The big winner from the minor reshuffle was Neil Thomson, who was promoted to shadow treasurer while holding onto responsibility for environment. Prior to entering Parliament, Mr Thomson was a public servant including as executive director at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and a stint working in economic policy and research at WA Treasury. New Liberal deputy leader Steve Martin picked up Mr Thomson’s former planning and lands portfolios, which he adds to housing and forestry. Ms Mettam opted against changing any of her own responsibilities: health, mental health and the prevention of family and domestic violence. Upper House powerbroker Nick Goiran remains banished to the backbench more than a year after he was demoted for refusing to publicly apologise for conduct revealed in leaked WhatsApp messages among members of a factional grouping known as The Clan. That conduct included denigrating comments about senior Labor minister Sue Ellery. Peter Collier — another member of The Clan exposed through the same leak but who subsequently apologised for his own stinging remarks about Liberal women — has replaced Dr Thomas as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. Ms Mettam attempted to frame her approach to Dr Thomas as “proportionate” while acknowledging the size of her party room — just 10 Liberal MPs in total — limited her capacity to make sweeping changes. “We have seen a significant demotion for Steve Thomas. He is no longer the leader of the house, is no longer the deputy leader and he’s no longer the shadow treasurer,” she said. “We are a small team and I look forward to working with that team going forward.” Tjorn Sibma, who responded to an email Mr Burke sent to all MPs last Friday saying he was welcome to contact him to discuss “electoral, legislative or policy” matters, escaped any kind of sanction. Mr Sibma has insisted there was no issue with the correspondence and that Mr Burke should not be treated any differently to any of his other northern suburbs constituents. Ms Mettam earlier this week described Mr Sibma’s email as inappropriate and “naive” but ultimately left his portfolios untouched. “Tjorn had not sought interactions with Brian Burke, he had not reached out to him or spoken to him,” she said. “His approach was questionable but I believe the response that I have made here today is proportionate.” Asked whether Dr Thomas would have been sent to the backbench if Ms Mettam had a bigger pool of colleagues to choose from, Ms Mettam said she was “not going to respond to hypotheticals”. Ms Mettam said Mr Goiran remained outside shadow cabinet because he continued to refuse to apologise for his Clan messages. In an opinion piece published in The West Australian on Friday, Ms Mettam continued to pursue Labor over Mr Burke’s links to a pair of taxpayer-funded relief measures for homebuilders and the live events industry. She did not directly address a question about whether her attacks were hypocritical given Dr Thomas remained on her front bench despite admitting to dealing directly with Mr Burke. “The Labor Government have seen Brian Burke potentially profit from government grants,” she said. “There are serious questions to answer here, and I will not be distracted (from) raising these issues.” Dr Thomas fell on his sword on Tuesday after it emerged he had engaged in multiple phone calls with Mr Burke, culminating in his request for a meeting with corporate advisory Poynton Stavrianou to discuss the future of Bluewaters Power Station. Ms Mettam had spent the past month relentlessly attacking the Cook Government over Mr Burke’s involvement securing a pair of grants for interest groups, for which he was paid. On February 2, Ms Mettam declared she was “very comfortable saying that there is no connection between Liberal Party members and Brian Burke”. Despite that, Dr Thomas kept his interactions with Mr Burke concealed from Ms Mettam until he was confronted by The West Australian a month later on February 26. He also initially concealed those dealings when contacted by The West Australian, saying he had “never met” Mr Burke and admitting only that the 77-year-old had contacted his “electorate office” in the middle of 2023 but his “opinion was not recorded”.