29-04-2025
Three-way contest in Bullwinkel heats up between Liberals, Labor and Nationals
It's the only new federal seat in the country this election – and it's anyone's guess who will win the semi-rural seat of Bullwinkel in WA, as each of its high-profile candidates struggle to resonate across the seat's vastly different demographics.
WA's 16th seat covers a whopping 9,508 square kilometres, from the outskirts of Perth to the outer edge of the Wheatbelt region, where Perth's farming fringe collides with the metropolitan area.
A notionally held Labor seat on a margin of 3.3 per cent, Bullwinkel is considered up for grabs, as Labor's nurse and local councillor Trish Cook, former WA Nationals leader Mia Davies and Liberal journalist-turned Army public affairs officer Matt Moran battle it out.
But given the seat's diverse mash-up, there's an even bigger list of issues for candidates to cover — and the clock is ticking to win them over.
The rural Wheatbelt
Picturesque landscapes, a line out the door for sausage rolls at the local bakery and murals of sheep on old brick buildings — this is the rural town of Beverley.
Bullwinkel stretches from Perth's metro fringe in the west to country towns like Beverley in the east.
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ABC News: West Mateeussen
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In the Wheatbelt part of the seat, it's not hard to guess who has the upper hand of the three high-profile candidates.
Almost every person the ABC spoke to indicated they were voting for Mia Davies and had the Keep the Sheep campaign front of mind.
Sheep at a property in Beverly, in WA's Wheatbelt region, where the 'Keep the Sheep' movement has been campaigning hard.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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The movement took off last year in response to
Beverley Tyre Service owner Daniel Henderson fears ending the live sheep export trade would be "an epic cost to the economy", and said it provides a lifeline for locals.
Beverley Tyre Service owner Daniel Henderson wants the live sheep trade to stay.
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"If it gets ripped out upon us, then a lot of farmers which are my customers, my clients around here ... get money taken off them," he said.
Beverley local Jenny Broun also indicated Keep the Sheep is influencing who she'll be voting for on May 3.
Beverley local Jenny Broun wants farmers to be looked after.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"We have a farm in the district and I do feel concerned that the major parties aren't looking after the farmers as they should, so obviously the Nationals will be my vote," she said.
There's no doubt the movement has aided Davies' quest for Bullwinkel, but her decision to
"Matt Moran's doing a fantastic job in Bullwinkel and I believe he'll be elected as the next member," Mr Dutton said on the campaign trail.
Voters in the rural part also identified cost of living, access to healthcare and rural neglect as issues they're thinking about in the lead-up to the poll.
"We've got great doctors but the hospitals are just hopeless," Beverley local Dalene Davies said.
Beverley local Dalene Davies is unhappy with the state of the area's hospitals.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"My friend and I drove over [to Northam Hospital at Easter] ... that's a 150-kilometre round trip."
The Hills
In the Perth Hills, a different kind of cost-of-living pressure is being felt among primary producers.
Willow Springs Orchard owners Davin and Kate Harris are in their third season at their Bedfordale property, but are struggling with increased business costs.
Bullwinkel encompasses numerous orchards and farmlands.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"Since COVID, the cost of fertiliser, chemical input, electricity input, your packaging ... fuel," Mr Harris said.
"Instead of being able to get ahead and save, we're pretty much spending everything we earn."
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The pair have turned their orchard — which grows a variety of novelty fruits including persimmons, pomegranates and kiwis — into an agriculture-tourism mix with a coffee shop and fruit picking in a bid to drive more profit.
Willow Springs Orchard owners Davin and Kate Harris.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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Mr Harris also worries about the housing crisis and how his children — aged 14, 10 and 9 — will be able to afford a property of their own.
"I'm thinking $1 million is going to get them a unit in a suburb 30 kilometres out of Perth,"
he said.
Perth suburbs
In the part of the seat closest to the city, cost of living and housing pressures are at the fore for voters.
The area includes suburbs like Forrestfield and High Wycombe — which held up for Labor at the recent state poll — and make up the most populous third.
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High Wycombe local Teriane Herald, 33, has cost-of-living concerns and plans to vote for Greens candidate Abbey Bishop.
High Wycombe local Teriane Herald is struggling to pay her rent.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"Before I could do it easily by myself as a single mum, rented by myself, worked full-time ... now there's no way I could do it by myself, the rent in six years has jumped by $250 per week easily, it's hard it's really hard," she said.
Three-horse race
Labor's working hard to win over areas closer to the city with flagship policies like
The Nationals and Liberals are both leaning into Keep the Sheep, the Nationals promising to overturn the live export ban as a first priority if elected.
The ABC asked the three candidates during pre-polling the same question — how do you reach voters across such a large and diverse seat?
Labor candidate for Bullwinkel Trish Cook.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"It is diverse, it's the three distinct regions but overwhelmingly people have the same issues: access to affordable healthcare, cost of living relief," Labor's Trish Cook said.
Nationals candidate Mia Davies took a grassroots approach.
Mia Davies is the Nationals candidate in Bullwinkel.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"In a nutshell, we are people and community first, politics a long way back," she said.
And Liberals candidate Matt Moran was focused on practicalities.
Matt Moran is the Liberal candidate for Bullwinkel and a former journalist.
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ABC News: Courtney Withers
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"The number one issue is cost of living ... and that's why we're offering 25c off every litre of fuel, a tax cut of up to $1200, helping first home buyers get into houses," he said.
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