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WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced he is retiring from politics in a bombshell announcement.<\/p>\n
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’<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“The truth is that I am tired, very tired. In fact, I am exhausted,” he said.<\/p>\n
WA Labor under McGowan swept to power in 2017, winning a landslide over a Liberal Party led by Premier Colin Barnett.<\/p>\n
WA Premier Mark McGowan announced he was leaving politics at a snap press conference in Perth. (ABC News: Keane Bourke<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The next WA election is not due until March 2025.<\/p>\n Select “Top stories from Western Australia” <\/strong>from the ABC News home page or the app’s settings menu.<\/p>\n Deputy Prime Minister Roger Cook and Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson are considered the frontrunners to succeed Mr McGowan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of the state in my community during this time,\u201d McGowan said.<\/p>\n “It’s way beyond what I could have ever imagined my career would be.”<\/p>\n Surrounded by his cabinet at the news conference, McGowan said the “relentless” pressures of political life had worn him down.<\/p>\n Sarah McGowan (centre) stood by her husband when he announced his resignation.(ABC News: Keane Bourke<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n \u201cI loved the challenge of solving problems, making decisions, getting results and helping people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n “It comes with a huge responsibility that consumes every day. And combined with the years of COVID, it takes it away from me.”<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “That’s political life. If you don’t want to do that, don’t go into politics.”<\/p>\n McGowan said he still believed in the Labor party and was confident it would win the next state election.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n McGowan said he would officially step down at the end of the week.<\/p>\n “It is now up to my colleagues to select my replacement,” he said.<\/p>\n “I’m going to rest for a while. I don’t know what else I’m going to do.<\/p>\n Mark McGowan says leading the state through the pandemic took its toll on him. (ABC News: James Carmody<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n “When I’m rested and recovered, I’ll look for something to do.”<\/p>\n ABC election analyst Antony Green said few could have predicted the dominant place McGowan would occupy in Washington politics after her 2013 election defeat. <\/p>\n \u201cHaving 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,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n “It turned out to be a behemoth, politically.”<\/p>\n McGowan enjoyed overwhelming popularity in his second term during the COVID-19 pandemic, enacting the nation’s strictest border policies.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n Mr McGowan and then health minister Roger Cook enjoy a beer in July 2020, during the early months of the pandemic. (ABC News: James Carmody<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n Criticism was even harsher when Mr McGowan pushed back his initial border opening date.<\/p>\n However, he consistently argued that his approach helped keep Western Australians safe and strengthened WA’s economy while the rest of the country struggled.<\/p>\n Mr McGowan was allegedly attacked with threats on several occasions by people opposed to his hardline stance on border controls and mandatory vaccinations.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n McGowan says he will officially step down at the end of the week.(ABC News: Keane Bourke<\/span><\/span><\/span>)<\/p>\n The prime minister said the stress of the political battleground during the pandemic played a role in his decision to step down.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n WA has enjoyed huge budget surpluses throughout Mr’s second term. McGowan thanks to iron ore royalties and GST payments.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\nWant more local WA news?<\/h2>\n
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