WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced he is retiring from politics in a bombshell announcement.
Key points:
Mark McGowan will step down at the end of the weekHe became leader of the WA Labor Party in 2012Prime Minister says job has left him ‘exhausted’
In a press conference held with just 45 minutes’ notice, McGowan said he would step down as premier and member for Rockingham at the end of the week.
“The truth is that I am tired, very tired. In fact, I am exhausted,” he said.
WA Labor under McGowan swept to power in 2017, winning a landslide over a Liberal Party led by Premier Colin Barnett.
WA Premier Mark McGowan announced he was leaving politics at a snap press conference in Perth. ()
The 55-year-old was re-elected for a second term in 2021 in an extraordinary landslide, winning 53 of the state’s 59 lower house seats.
The next WA election is not due until March 2025.
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Deputy Prime Minister Roger Cook and Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson are considered the frontrunners to succeed Mr McGowan.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of the state in my community during this time,” McGowan said.
“It’s way beyond what I could have ever imagined my career would be.”
“Relentless” work pressure
Surrounded by his cabinet at the news conference, McGowan said the “relentless” pressures of political life had worn him down.
Sarah McGowan (centre) stood by her husband when he announced his resignation.()
“I loved the challenge of solving problems, making decisions, getting results and helping people,” he said.
“It comes with a huge responsibility that consumes every day. And combined with the years of COVID, it takes it away from me.”
“I’m not a natural confrontational person, but every day I have to engage in discussion and debate and confrontation in one way or another. And I’m a little tired of it.
“That’s political life. If you don’t want to do that, don’t go into politics.”
McGowan said he still believed in the Labor party and was confident it would win the next state election.
“I’m convinced that WA Labor can and will win … but I just don’t have the energy or the drive that’s required to continue in the role of premier,” he said.
A “political power”
McGowan said he would officially step down at the end of the week.
“It is now up to my colleagues to select my replacement,” he said.
“I’m going to rest for a while. I don’t know what else I’m going to do.
Mark McGowan says leading the state through the pandemic took its toll on him. ()
“When I’m rested and recovered, I’ll look for something to do.”
ABC election analyst Antony Green said few could have predicted the dominant place McGowan would occupy in Washington politics after her 2013 election defeat.
“Having met him in 2013, I don’t think anyone met him when he had his first election as opposition leader. [thought] a decade later it would be so dominant in Western Australia,” Green said.
“It turned out to be a behemoth, politically.”
The premiere of ‘rock star’
McGowan enjoyed overwhelming popularity in his second term during the COVID-19 pandemic, enacting the nation’s strictest border policies.
The approach came with its critics, with some arguing it was a heavy-handed approach, prompting then-Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce to describe WA as a “hermit kingdom of sorts”.
Mr McGowan and then health minister Roger Cook enjoy a beer in July 2020, during the early months of the pandemic. ()
Criticism was even harsher when Mr McGowan pushed back his initial border opening date.
However, he consistently argued that his approach helped keep Western Australians safe and strengthened WA’s economy while the rest of the country struggled.
Mr McGowan was allegedly attacked with threats on several occasions by people opposed to his hardline stance on border controls and mandatory vaccinations.
He was also involved in a legal battle with mining magnate Clive Palmer that cost WA taxpayers $2 million, centered on a war of words over WA border controls and one of Palmer’s mining projects.
McGowan says he will officially step down at the end of the week.()
The prime minister said the stress of the political battleground during the pandemic played a role in his decision to step down.
“The experience of COVID, basically three years … having to deal with all of that, and all the pressure that was associated with it, it really drained me,” she said.
WA has enjoyed huge budget surpluses throughout Mr’s second term. McGowan thanks to iron ore royalties and GST payments.
The state will post a $4.2 billion surplus this year, a number that rivals the federal surplus but falls short of the even bigger purses of $5.7 billion and $5.6 billion recorded in previous years.
