Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party

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Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party
AbbreviationLCWA
Leader Brian Walker
PresidentFred Mulholland
Secretary Aaron Cross
FoundedJune 2020
Ideology Legalisation of cannabis
National affiliation Legalise Cannabis Australia
Legislative Council
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Rockingham City Council
1 / 13
Website
www.lcwaparty.org.au

The Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party (LCWA) is a political party registered in Western Australia. The party advocates for law reform in relation to cannabis. [1] Since 2024, it has been led by Brian Walker, a member of the Legislative Council. [2] [3]

Contents

History

The LCWA party is the sister party of Legalise Cannabis Queensland (LCQ) and affiliate of the Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party (HEMP) and Medical Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA).

Following in the success of LCQ in the 2020 Queensland state election, the party was registered by the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 29 January 2021 to contest the 2021 Western Australian state election, at which two of its candidates – Brian Walker in the East Metropolitan Region and Sophia Moermond in the South-West Region – were elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council.

In January 2022, the party proposed that each West Australian should be allowed to possess 50 g (1.8 oz) of marijuana and grow four marijuana plants. This was rejected by Mark McGowan, the premier of Western Australia. [4]

Electoral results

The party fielded candidates for the first time in the 2021 Western Australian state election and received two seats in the Legislative Council with the fifth largest number of votes (26,818) by party behind the Nationals. The party fielded a limited number of candidates in the Legislative Assembly and received 4,996 votes.

In the 2023 Rockingham state by-election the party received its highest percentage vote in its history, reaching 6.80% of votes (1,487 votes total) beating the Greens candidate at the election, making it the 3rd most popular party at the election. [5] [6]

Sophia Moermond

A former representative of the party, Sophia Moermond, described vaccination mandates as "medical apartheid" and has denied the science behind the vaccines. She was additionally suspended from parliament for refusing to get vaccinated in 2022. [7] [8]

Moermond also gained controversy for speaking at a rally outside the Parliament of Western Australia in March 2023. Moermond's speech, later posted on her Facebook, said she was "concerned about the rejection of science for ideology" in relation to transgender issues. The rally was in support of, and attended by, anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull. [9] [10]

These comments were later disowned by the only other West Australian Legalise Cannabis MP, Dr Brian Walker, with him calling them transphobic and stating they were not a part of the party. The two Victorian Legislative Council Legalise Cannabis MPs released a joint statement stating that Moermond's comments were not representative of the broader party "or its representatives." [11]

On 9 May 2024, Moermond left the Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party to sit as an independent. [12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Should WA loosen its control of medicinal cannabis prescriptions? Here are the arguments". 30 December 2020.
  2. ↑ Caporn, Dylan (9 May 2024). "Legalise Cannabis MP Sophia Moermond quits party over offshore wind farm opposition". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 20 June 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2025. Party leader Brian Walker recently introduced a bill into Parliament to legalise cannabis
  3. ↑ Lane, Martin (12 February 2025). "Dr Brian Walker alleges ABC bias after leaders election special snub". Cannabiz. Archived from the original on 14 February 2025. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  4. ↑ Ramsey, Michael (21 June 2022). "McGowan snuffs out WA legalised cannabis plan". WAtoday. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Legalise Cannabis Party on a high after Rocko by-election". The West Australian. 8 August 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  6. ↑ West Australian Electoral Commison. "2023 Rockingham By-election Results".
  7. ↑ Zimmerman, Josh (16 February 2022). "MP Sophia Moermond warns vaccine mandates are 'medical apartheid', will end in violence". The West Australian. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  8. ↑ Kruijff, Peter de (15 February 2022). "Politician suspended from WA Parliament for not providing vaccination status". WAtoday. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  9. ↑ "Protestors outnumber supporters at Kellie-Jay Keen Perth event". OUTInPerth | LGBTQIA+ News and Culture. 14 March 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  10. ↑ "Peter Foster highlights Trans Day of Visibility in WA parliament". OUTInPerth | LGBTQIA+ News and Culture. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  11. ↑ Australia, 6 News (20 March 2023). "Legalise Cannabis MPs distance themselves from Sophia Moermond over 'Let Women Speak' rally comments | 6NewsAU". 6 News Australia. Retrieved 5 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Caporn, Dylan (9 May 2024). "Cannabis MP suddenly quits over offshore wind". Archived from the original on 5 June 2024.
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