Legalise Cannabis WA leader Dr Brian Walker has described his party's performance at the state elections as a letdown, and signalled a review of how it can convert widespread vocal backing into actual votes.
Walker, who held onto his seat in the 37-member Legislative Council, said reforms to the voting system have likely cost the party a second Upper House member.
The group voting ticket system and full preferential voting were scrapped after the 2021 elections and replaced with optional preferential voting.
When asked about his reaction to the election — which, as of 9am this morning, had the party receiving 26,797 Legislative Council votes, 2.7% of the total — Walker said: "To be frank, disappointing. Had the old system been in play still we would have easily won the second seat. Now we are sweating on it and to be fair I think getting a second member is too much to hope for. But hope we do."
Walker said it may be time to re-examine the party's approach after failing to achieve meaningful cut through with the WA electorate.
"We have done the traditional approach to politics and found little real resonance. A lot of words of support but nothing much changed in the actual ticking of the electoral box," he said. "I am taking a long hard look at what changes we need in order to make a noticeable dent in the status quo. That will at least make for an interesting new parliamentary term. It will be fun."
Among the 59 Legislative Assembly contests, Paul Mavor drew nearly 3.6% of votes (725) in the Kwinana constituency, where he faced Labor leader Roger Cook.
Meanwhile, Sharlene Mavor, standing in the seat of Dawesville, received 596 votes, equating to 2.75% of the total.
With 65% of votes counted as of last night, the Legalise Cannabis party had gathered 26,544 votes, 2.3% of the total across the 59 constituencies.
Paul Mavor said the elections offered an opportunity to raise awareness of cannabis-related issues among WA communities.
"The election results are pretty much what we expected," he said. "We were hoping for around 3% of the vote in both of our seats, and above 4% would have been nice.
"Either way it is really good to be able to talk to the general public about issues facing medical cannabis patients and the hemp industry such as roadside testing and access. These continue to be major problems moving forward that need to be resolved."
Sharing Walker's concerns about the voting system changes, Mavor said: "I think we fell a little bit short in numbers to get a second [Upper House] representative. Numbers should be finalised within two weeks but at this stage it doesn't look positive.
"There has been a re-shuffle in the electoral system since the 2021 WA elections that make it harder for the minor parties to win seats in the Upper House which looks like it has had an impact.
"A big part of our role was supporting Brian and the party and Sharlene and I will continue doing that moving forward."
Walker cautioned that if the Greens align with Labor in the Upper House, there will be "no chance of a reasonable discussion".
The Greens secured four seats in the Legislative Council, giving the party considerable influence over Upper House business.
"The Greens will be sure to make use of their control of the balance of power," Walker said. "If I were in their position I would do the same, so there it is."
