Good governance needs robust opposition We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Normal text size Advertisement Politics can be brutal. But rarely has this been as obvious as during West Australian Labor Premier Mark McGowan’s decimation of the Liberal and National parties at the polls last weekend. Mr McGowan shattered political records, delivering his party an expected 52 of 59 seats, reducing the Liberals to a likely three seats and the Nationals four. In a further humiliation, the Liberals, once a dominant force in the west, will be compelled to hand over the role of opposition leader to the head of the Nationals, Mia Davies, after failing to garner enough seats.