The good, bad and dreadful of the WA election THE Labor Party's hopes in Western Australia rest with Mark McGowan, member for Rockingham since 1996 and Leader of the Opposition since January last year. However, there is no reason to suppose that McGowan can knock off Liberal Premier Colin Barnett at the state election on March 9, the first under the new fixed-term parliament legislation. All the opinion poll evidence suggests, indeed, that there will be a swing away from Labor.