MP's shock defection leaves WA Liberal Party in turmoil

A shock defection has left the Western Australian Liberal Party even weaker.

Member for Nedlands Jonathan Huston, who was elected to state parliament in March last year, has chosen to sit as an independent.

Huston, a self-proclaimed liberal at heart, resigned from the party, vowing to fight for increased mining royalties as an independent.

It’s a view the 63-year-old says isn’t shared by the WA Liberals and became the sticking point for him.

“I went to Basil [Zempilas] and said ‘this is a line in the sand issue for me’ and here we are,” Huston told 9News.

“It’s the reason I went into politics. I really think we need to massage the level of royalties and the level of payroll tax and create a sovereign wealth fund for future generations of West Australians.”

The Liberal leader said it was a dignified conversation between the pair.

“We didn’t have a blue,” Zempilas said.

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“There was no shouting matches or any of those sorts of things, this is a difference of opinion.”

The seat of Nedlands had been held by conservatives since 1950, before turning red for the first time in 2021.

Huston won it back for the Liberal Party last year.

His resignation leaves the Liberals with just six seats in the lower house, making it now equal to the Nationals.

It’s been a while since a sitting MP turned their back on the Liberal Party.

Ian Blaney left to join the Nationals in 2019 and the former Liberal member for Nedlands Sue Walker also turned independent in 2008.

It was a decision which cost her the seat, but Huston doesn’t expect the same fate when he runs again in 2029.

“People will get over their initial anger, and that’s what they are feeling, and they’ll slowly come around,” he said.