One Nation deals not down to me: PM

Counting resumes in the Western Australian state election on Monday which looks set to confirm a hefty swing towards Mark McGowan's Labor party.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Source: AAP

The repercussions of the Liberal Party's hefty loss in Western Australia will rumble on through the ranks of the federal coalition even though the prime minister insists the result was "overwhelmingly" down to state issues.

WA's new Labor Premier Mark McGowan trounced Colin Barnett's two-term Liberal government on Saturday, claiming as many as 41 MPs in the 59-seat parliament.

Counting resumed on Monday.

WATCH: Pauline Hanson speaks about the WA election result



Malcolm Turnbull has refused to rule out doing preference pacts with One Nation in the future despite the WA deal failing to lift the Liberals performance, saying it is a decision for the different divisions of the party to make.

Finance Minister and WA senator Mathias Cormann was still comfortable with the decision that preferenced One Nation over the Nationals.

Others in the coalition were not so happy, including Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who has called the deal a "mistake".

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has urged Mr Turnbull to rule out once-and-for-all his government doing any further deals with One Nation, like former Liberal prime minister John Howard did in the late 1990s.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also appeared reluctant to commit to any further preferences deals, admitting it was at least partly to blame for her party’s poor showing at the weekend poll.

After polling as high as 13 per cent of the primary vote in the election lead-up, the minor party managed just under five per cent of the total vote.

WATCH: WA's new Labor Premier gets straight to work



Despite this, Ms Hanson has insisted she is happy with the outcome, with One Nation expected to pick up at least three upper house seats.

The Premier-elect is likely to unveil the state’s first Labor ministry since 2008 by the end of the week.

Mark McGowan will have to cut his ministry from 20 to 17, with former WA transport minister Alannah MacTiernan likely to be named in the front bench.

The state is also going to have the country’s first Indigenous treasurer, with Ben Wyatt, cousin of Indigenous cabinet minister Ken Wyatt, tipped to take up the post.

Speaking outside his home on Monday, Mr McGowan has told reporters that Labor will order a Commission of Inquiry into the state of the WA budget.

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3 min read
Published 13 March 2017 3:34am
Updated 13 March 2017 11:38am
Source: AAP


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