Member for Riverton Mike Nahan took the lead of the WA Liberal Party last week in the wake of its landslide election loss earlier this month.
Dr Nahan was treasurer under the Liberal-led state government and had previously avoided speculation he could take over the WA Liberal Party’s leadership from Colin Barnett.
In an interview last weekend Dr Nahan changed his position and said he would gladly lead the party at the 2021 state election.
“I want to help resuscitate the Liberal team so that we are more than competitive at the next election and I am the best person positioned to do that,” he said.
Dr Nahan was voted as new leader of the WA Liberal Party on Tuesday and confirmed former police minister Liza Harvey as deputy leader.
The Liberals lost government and 17 seats following a campaign damaged by negative attention over the proposed majority sale of Western Power, a preference deal with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the divisive Perth Freight Link.
Dr Nahan blamed former premier Colin Barnett for the election loss and said the party needed more direction in the months before election day.
“He was not up to leading the team in this campaign and as a result we had a landslide loss,” he said.
Dr Nahan revealed he had threatened to quit the cabinet over the sale of Western Power which he said should have been done years before.
He said if the sale had been pushed earlier it would have helped the government’s reputation heading into the election.
He said announcing the sale in 2016 was a disastrous move for the government’s credibility.
Dr Nahan urged Premier Mark McGowan to not scrap the Perth Freight Link project and said it would be too costly to cancel at this stage.
Scrapping Roe 8 was one of WA Labor’s major pledges of the election campaign but Dr Nahan said cancelling the contracts would cost the state up to $150 million.
Following his confirmation as party leader he said he was keen to keep the government accountable.
