WA election: Death threats, One Nation legal action, stadium stoush campaign trail action – ABC Online

Posted March 09, 2017 22:52:05

Just two more sleeps until Saturday's election and there was no shortage of action on the WA campaign trail: a former One Nation candidate threatened legal action against the party, another one rebelled, tensions erupted between the Nationals and Liberals, and some Liberal MPs received death threats.

Here are five things you may have missed:

Disendorsed One Nation candidate Sandy Baraiolo, who was running in the seat of Thornlie, has threatened legal action against the party.

She was one of two One Nation candidates disendorsed last month for what the party said was failing to reach required standards.

On Thursday, Mrs Bariaolo served state leader Colin Tincknell and the party with a letter of demand threatening defamation action if an apology and retraction was not issued by close of business.

Ms Baraiolo's legal representative John Hammond said Mr Tincknell did not meet his client's deadline, and she was now considering legal action.

On Wednesday, One Nation powerbrokers Ron Mclean and Marye Louise Daniels said they were pursuing legal action after claiming Mr McLean was dumped from the party for being "too old".

Meanwhile, high-profile One Nation candidate Margaret Dodd said she would boycott the party's how-to-vote directive over party's deal with the Liberals.

Ms Dodd who is running in the seat of Scarborough, told 7.30 that when she joined the party four weeks ago, she was assured that she would be able to decide her own preferences.

In response, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said: "I certainly wouldn't stand in the way of her leaving the party, in fact, I'd welcome it."

Ms Dodd, whose daughter Hayley was murdered in 1999, is running to push for "no body, no parole" laws which Labor has supported.

Her daughter's body has never been found.

The ABC revealed today at least six Liberal MPs were sent anonymous death threats ahead of Saturday's election.

The author accuses the recipients of "stuffing up their life and business" and directly threatens "women and children".

One of the recipients is Upper House MP and candidate for the seat of Hillarys Peter Katsambanis.

"It's disconcerting for me, it's disconcerting for my family," Mr Katsambanis said.

"When people make direct threats to people's homes about their family, this is no longer fair game in politics."

WA Police confirmed it was investigating the letters.

Labor has released election costings, showing it would return the budget to surplus by 2020, but gave no timeline for paying down state debt.

The costings show a forecast a surplus in 2020 of $205 million, with debt continuing to climb to $39.975 billion over the same period.

Shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt acknowledged Labor's slender surplus and cost projections remained vulnerable to the volatility of WA's resource-based economy, and conceded there was still no clear timeline on when debt would peak.

Treasurer Mike Nahan attacked Labor's independent costings, accusing the appointed experts of having links to Labor, and suggesting they were neither independent nor objective.

Controversy brewed over Labor's proposal to sell naming rights to two of Perth's best known venues.

Labor wants to sell naming rights for Perth Arena and the new Perth Stadium, expecting it would raise $10.5 million over four years.

But Premier Colin Barnett blasted the plan, saying it went against all the work done to promote the Perth brand.

"This stadium is an iconic part of Perth, we are not going to have it taken over by some corporate entity with their naming rights," Mr Barnett said.

Labor leader Mark McGowan dismissed the criticism, saying "appropriate" titles would be chosen and "Perth" would still have to be included in the name.

"This is normal practise for stadiums and arenas around the country and around the world," Mr McGowan said.

Topics: elections, political-parties, wa

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WA election: Death threats, One Nation legal action, stadium stoush campaign trail action - ABC Online