Perth / Western Australia

First of all, see what candidates are on the ballot for your electorate - most electorates only have about half a dozen, so please do your own research and make up your minds.

That said, I've spent a while trawling through the various party websites, so I thought I may as well share a brief overview to help you avoid the 'cookers' if you so wish! I'll try not to be too biased but to be fair, some of these parties/independents are hilarious.

Legislative assembly (your electorate may have some independents too):

• Animal Justice Party: What it says on the tin, their policy mostly resolves around reducing animal suffering. Aside from being understandably preachy, they have some light but sensible policy around housing, transport, corruption, and health.

• Australian Christians: I'm shocked at how openly homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic their website is. But yeah, pretty horrifying overall, their sole environmental policy is to "wisely steward the environment God has given us". Also want heavy regulation of the internet (i.e. to ban porn).

• Legalise Cannabis Party WA: It's in the name, they're a one issue party that want to legalise cannabis. Worth mentioning that they are no longer affiliated with Sophia Moermond.

• Liberal Party Western Australia: Well, you probably know about them even though they're a minor party for now. They haven't actually released much state-level policy to the public as far as I can tell, which is super weird before an election. Worth noting that the candidate for Central Wheatbelt refused to unfollow a white supremacist, and one of their flagship candidates is a TV show presenter known for getting on the bags in Perth nightclubs in the 2000s.

• Libertarian Party: Guns, crypto, cookers. Pretty woeful housing/environment policy, plus their website is openly transphobic and has kinda racist undertones. Doesn't really have much in the way of state-level policy, but calls to "abolish the federal department of education". I guess if you like what Musk is doing to the US, this is the party for you...?

• Pauline Hanson's One Nation: Pretty openly racist and transphobic, big on guns and conspiracy rhetoric. I was kinda surprised to see that they're big supporters of social housing and increasing hospital funding, but yeah, probably doesn't make up for the rest of their policy.

• Shooters, Fishers and Farmers: They don't use an oxford comma in their name, but aside from that they're true to their name - they really like guns, fishing, and agriculture. Very light on any environmental, social, economic, or housing policy.

• Stop pedophiles! Protect kiddies!: Formerly the Democratic Labour Party. A bit of a loose unit of a party, but generally pretty anti-environmentalist, anti-drugs, anti-vax, anti-abortion. Not much in the way of relevant state-based policy such as housing, but they support high speed rail between the capital cities.

• Sustainable Australia Party - Anti-Corruption: Their policy is remarkably similar to the Greens, generally supporting science-based practice and pretty leftist policy. Their main difference with the Greens is (a) being less focused on social policy, and (b) supporting reduced immigration. They seem to be pretty anti-immigration rather than anti-immigrant though, which is a pretty important distinction. I haven't gotten any problematic undertones from their website but curious to know what other people reckon.

• The Greens (WA) Inc: The major leftist party; supports climate action, the arts, indigenous rights, social housing, diversified economy, education funding, more accessible public health, corruption reform, and transport infrastructure. Pretty aggressive advocates for socially progressive policies. Generally a big 'science' party, although they haven't shaken a few minor "hippy" stances that have been around since the inception of the party (mostly being anti-GMO, anti-nuclear). I will say they have, by far, the best website for communicating their policy at easy-to-read format but with a very high level of detail, and they really do have policies for everything.

• The Nationals WA: They target regional seats and their policy is all about the regions. That said, they're pretty unclear on what their policies are other than pretty vague notions of "looking out for the regions". They are very pro-gun though.

• WA Labor: The incumbents that have been in power since 2017 - not much needs to be said. They have pretty detailed policy but it's hidden in a 300-page PDF filled with jargon. IMO the big notable omission is any corruption or integrity policy.

Legislative council independents:

• Louise Kingston: Ex-nationals, left due to 'bullying'. Very little policy publicly available, but seems to be a kinda "protect your freedoms!!!" kinda vibe.

• Sophia Moermond: Ex-Legalise Cannabis, left due to her disdain for offshore wind power. Seems to be running a campaign mostly based around anti-vax rhetoric, although still supports drug reform and has a few sensible policies about housing and education.

• Wilson Tucker: Ex-Daylight Savings, and currently holds a seat with only 98 votes despite living in the US at the time of the last election! Despite being an 'accidental politician', I'm actually kinda sold on this guy, has pretty solid environmental, economic, and social policy. Also has a big focus on the housing crisis and getting mining money out of state government. It'd be pretty hilarious if this guy got voted in again.

• Aussie Trump: The name tells you all you need to know. Was once involved with Labor, then joined One Nation but got kicked out for 'being unprofessional'. Doesn't really seem to be have any policy as far as I can tell, but is pretty vocally anti-vax and has a violence restraining order. Delightful.

• Christiane Smith: Pretty vague about her policy but it seems to have fairly conservative/christian undertones. She's big on agriculture and "cutting red tape".

• Adrian McRae: God there are some characters here. This is the Putin guy. Used to be involved with the 'Great Australian Party', and is yet another anti-vax candidate without much clear policy.

This wasn't meant to be too serious. Feel free to let me know if I'm wrong about anything, not going to engage with any cookers though (Lemmy seems to be a pretty down-to-earth place however!)

Non-spotify Link

February’s night sky is putting on a show! This month, Leon and Beth guide you through a rare planetary parade, where every planet—including Mercury—is visible at once. Learn how to spot Venus at peak brightness, Jupiter ruling the northern sky, and Orion’s celestial hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. Plus, we debunk the myths around planetary alignments and take a deep dive into the fiery world of Io, Jupiter’s volcanic moon, where a recent eruption reshaped its surface.

For the first time, near real-time disclosure of political donations is showing who’s funding the 2025 WA election.

We’ve crunched the numbers on where the money is coming from to create this live dashboard which will be updated throughout the campaign

Update your addresses, dust off your line waiting loafers, and get ready to have the most average sausage, or unexpectedly amazing cake of your life!

WA votes!

The hardest choice is deciding to go left or right coming in off Wellington Road.

Especially in peak hour, you only have one choice, and you best check there aren't any cars that can beat you to that single spot you've seen.

The scots are here!!

Na, just joking, welcome to Perth!

I thought Dutton didn't need to win the Teal seats back, wasn't his grand starategy to win all of Labors heartland in a political win against the odds?

Looks like Kate Chaney has a fight on her hands.

Shipwreck Museum Link

Big read, but gives a good perspective.

I think theres three big stories of this coming election.

1. The rebalancing of metro v regional votes.
2. Liberals progress clawing back traditional Liberal seats could indicate how satisfied West Australians are with WA Labor.
3. Independent Challengers in western suburbs could indicate dissatisfaction with both majors for different and complicated reasons.

In The Australian Dream?  Tim Ross casts his discerning eye across the archival treasures of our much-loved public libraries and uncovers the telling images that reveal a multi-decade story of Australian homes - how they’re sold to us, why we buy them, and how we make them our own. Ross explores the reasons why home ownership is such an all-consuming distraction among Australians and uncovers some of the unique and special ways we have built in this place.

This ones just behind the bunnings in Midland. I wondered what was up with that.

My own title, couldn't resist.

Actual title: WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam refuses to stand in front of Aboriginal flag

On 16th-19th Jan 2025

Bit if a fluff piece, sorry, but i love to see TAFE getting continued investments.