Optimism is the name of the game, but can the teals cause further upset in WA?
They're flushed with Climate 200 cash and inundated with hundreds of eager volunteers hoping to help take advantage of growing disillusionment with the major parties.
But this election, the teal independent challenge goes far beyond the traditional inner-city blue-ribbon upset that saw Kate Chaney voted into power in 2022.
In Forrest, surgeon Sue Chapman is trying to take advantage of the retirement of long-time MP Nola Marino to pry the South West seat the Liberal Party, which has held it since 1972.
In Fremantle, Kate Hulett is hoping to carry over her surprise near-win at the state election to the federal seat of the same name in a bid to unseat Labor's Josh Wilson.
In Moore, the presence of psychologist and former army reservist Nathan Barton could jumble preference flows further as Liberal Vince Connelly tries to win the seat back from incumbent Liberal-turned-independent Ian Goodenough.
Hulett, Chaney and Chapman were all 'optimistic' about their chances on election night.
Redbridge director and poll analyst Kos Samaras said that optimism wasn't misplaced, but it was likely only one of them that will be celebrating on Saturday night.
'They're seats to watch just to see how big that vote is, but I don't think they will have the same momentum that Chaney had in Curtin,' he said.
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West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
'Partial tick': coalition cautious on PM's summit idea
The federal opposition has given the government a partial tick over its upcoming productivity summit, saying that at least Labor recognises there is a problem. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plan on Tuesday, saying the gathering of business, union and other leaders in Canberra in August would focus on ways to lift economic output. "A round table. Yay!" shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien joked during an interview on Nine's Today program on Wednesday. "But look ... to be fair, at least they're recognising the problem ... so let's take that as a partial tick." Experts are concerned about Australia's lagging rate of productivity - a key economic measure of efficiency and long-term driver of improved living standards. Despite criticism that previous federal government economic summits were too slanted, Mr Albanese said this roundtable would be broad-based. He called for a mature discussion from all parties, noting it was in everyone's interest for productivity to improve. "We're a Labor government, we support unions existing ... but we will always respect both the role of business and the role of unions," he told the National Press Club on Tuesday. "There are common interests ... you don't get union members unless you've got successful employers. "It's the private sector that drives an economy. What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment." The Productivity Commissioner's most recent report showed labour productivity fell 0.1 per cent in the December quarter and dropped 1.2 per cent in the past year. The Business Council of Australia says productivity growth over the past decade has been the lowest in 60 years. Council chief executive Bran Black welcomed the roundtable, saying "lifting business investment is essential to boosting productivity, lifting real wages, creating jobs and ensuring more opportunity for more Australians". "We will continue to be very clear about policies that the business community believes will be counterproductive to improving productivity," he said. Mr Albanese said he wanted a boost to productivity, alongside other economic indicators as part of his second-term agenda. "We want to build an economy where growth, wages and productivity rise together," he said. ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians must be at the centre of the roundtable. "We need to leave behind the idea that productivity is equated with cutting pay and making people work harder for less," she said. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said boosting productivity was essential for economic growth. "The business community looks forward to participating in the summit and contributing constructive and sensible ideas to address the problem," he said. Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3 per cent. The downgrade was driven by higher US tariffs on foreign imports and heightened uncertainty posed a "significant headwind" for nearly all economies. The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies. But it stopped short of forecasting a recession, despite predicting global economic growth this year would be the weakest outside of a recession since 2008. with Reuters


Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
'Partial tick': coalition cautious on PM's summit idea
The federal opposition has given the government a partial tick over its upcoming productivity summit, saying that at least Labor recognises there is a problem. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plan on Tuesday, saying the gathering of business, union and other leaders in Canberra in August would focus on ways to lift economic output. "A round table. Yay!" shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien joked during an interview on Nine's Today program on Wednesday. "But look ... to be fair, at least they're recognising the problem ... so let's take that as a partial tick." Experts are concerned about Australia's lagging rate of productivity - a key economic measure of efficiency and long-term driver of improved living standards. Despite criticism that previous federal government economic summits were too slanted, Mr Albanese said this roundtable would be broad-based. He called for a mature discussion from all parties, noting it was in everyone's interest for productivity to improve. "We're a Labor government, we support unions existing ... but we will always respect both the role of business and the role of unions," he told the National Press Club on Tuesday. "There are common interests ... you don't get union members unless you've got successful employers. "It's the private sector that drives an economy. What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment." The Productivity Commissioner's most recent report showed labour productivity fell 0.1 per cent in the December quarter and dropped 1.2 per cent in the past year. The Business Council of Australia says productivity growth over the past decade has been the lowest in 60 years. Council chief executive Bran Black welcomed the roundtable, saying "lifting business investment is essential to boosting productivity, lifting real wages, creating jobs and ensuring more opportunity for more Australians". "We will continue to be very clear about policies that the business community believes will be counterproductive to improving productivity," he said. Mr Albanese said he wanted a boost to productivity, alongside other economic indicators as part of his second-term agenda. "We want to build an economy where growth, wages and productivity rise together," he said. ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians must be at the centre of the roundtable. "We need to leave behind the idea that productivity is equated with cutting pay and making people work harder for less," she said. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said boosting productivity was essential for economic growth. "The business community looks forward to participating in the summit and contributing constructive and sensible ideas to address the problem," he said. Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3 per cent. The downgrade was driven by higher US tariffs on foreign imports and heightened uncertainty posed a "significant headwind" for nearly all economies. The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies. But it stopped short of forecasting a recession, despite predicting global economic growth this year would be the weakest outside of a recession since 2008. with Reuters

Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese's cautious approach risks a repeat of Turnbull's wasted majority. He must find a middle path
Anthony Albanese had a chance on Tuesday to expand the scope of his second-term agenda, following his thumping election win on May 3, and lay out a more ambitious reform plan. It was a chance he very deliberately chose not to take. Mindful of the uncertain international environment; a looming meeting with US President Donald Trump (the source of much of this uncertainty); the risks of exceeding his mandate so soon after the election; and conscious of the need to begin to rebuild faith in government, institutions and even the media, Albanese stuck to his narrowly defined path. In his first major speech to the National Press Club since the election, Albanese hewed closely to the policy script he took to the election campaign – cheaper childcare, making Australia a renewable energy superpower, developing advanced manufacturing, and expanding Medicare bulk-billing. There was a concession of a sort, in the form of a roundtable meeting in August that will bring together business, unions and government to discuss the government's growth and productivity agenda – an acknowledgement, at the very least, that major business groups are not exactly thrilled with the government's industrial relations changes, to see wages rising faster than inflation, and that (of course) they desire a cut to the company tax rate. Loading There was also an acknowledgement that Australia may well have to spend more on defence in the years to come, but Albanese made clear – as he has been saying privately for weeks – that he would not simply set an arbitrary target for defence spending as a proportion of GDP, but rather that 'we will always provide for capability that's needed'. But these are uncertain times. The Reserve Bank of Australia used the word 'uncertain' 21 times in the minutes of their most recent board meeting, compared to just twice seven months ago, on the day Trump was elected. Labor true believers hoping Albanese would unleash his inner Paul Keating in this second term, emboldened by a 94-seat stranglehold on the House and a progressive majority in the Senate, will have been left disappointed.