“I’ve loved the challenge of solving problems,making decisions,getting outcomes and helping people but the truth is,I’m tired. Extremely tired. In fact,I’m exhausted,” he said.
“The role of political leadership doesn’t stop. It’s relentless. It comes with huge responsibility;it is all-consuming each and every day and combined with the COVID years it’s taken it out of me.”
McGowan revealed he actually didn’t like conflict.
“I don’t think I’m naturally a combative person,I’m not naturally confrontational,but every day I have to engage in an argument and debate and confrontation in one way or another and I’m kind of tired of it,” he said.
Conflict-averse
This statement will come as a shock to anyone with a passing interest in WA politics,particularly anyone who watched a single press conference during the pandemic.
After winning the 2017 election with Labor’s best showing in decades McGowan was having an unremarkable run in his first three years as premier,no major missteps but no major wins either.
Fast-forward to his most recent press conferences,and he is an entirely different politician. Hip usually cocked he easily falls into verbal sparring matches with anyone who dares disparage Western Australia.
This haughtiness evolved rapidly during COVID-19.
When the pandemic hit he initially resisted opposition calls to implement a hard border but by April 2020he saw the natural advantage WA’s isolation gave the state in keeping an airborne virus out and became dedicated to caution.
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The path chosen meant the state spent 607 days behind a hard border,but just 12 days in total locked down.
As the discourse evolved and east coast commentators began attacking the hard border McGowan happily fired back – decrying New South Wales and Victoria’s failures to keep the virus out of their states.
His popularity ballooned over this period and weathered story after story of families being unable to see dying loved ones.
On Monday afternoon Palmer described McGowan’s retirement as a “win for Western Australia.”
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“From his lockdowns which robbed WA citizens of their freedoms and economic prosperity to his personal vendettas against fellow Australians he has failed the people he was elected to serve,” Palmer said.
McGowan said his legacy would be up to others to declare,but he said he thought he was probably known more for his financial management.
“We have the strongest economy in Australia and one of the strongest in the world,” he said.
“We turned our finances around returning the budget surplus and with debt being repaid we regained the triple-A credit rating. We have the best-funded healthcare,police and education services in Australia.”
He said he would have liked to cut the ribbons of his government’s many Metronet rail projects currently under construction and was most proud of some of his conservation and environmental policies.
Controversies
Despite the COVID-19 shine and continued popularity (which remained above 60 per cent at last count) McGowan’s tenure has not been without its controversies.
His closeness to business was identified early as a problemby former premier Colin Barnett and he has delighted in rubbing shoulders with Perth’s business elite.
The NSW-born former Navy lawyer is the longest-serving politician in the WA Parliament alongside lower house speaker Michelle Roberts after they were both elected in December 1996.
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His tenure means he is eligible for one of the most generous pensions in the country and will take home $250,000 every year for the rest of his life,but he said he would not retire from working life completely.
“I don’t want to finish work completely,once I’m rested and recuperated,I’ll look for some alternatives,” he said.
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