Zak Kirkup | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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35th Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia Elections: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 November 2020 –13 March 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Premier | Mark McGowan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Libby Mettam | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Liza Harvey | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Mia Davies | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Liberal Party of Western Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 24 November 2020 –13 March 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Libby Mettam | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Liza Harvey | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | David Honey | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for Dawesville | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 11 March 2017 –13 March 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Kim Hames | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Lisa Munday | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Midland,Western Australia | 23 February 1987||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Liberal | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Subiaco,Western Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Governor Stirling Senior High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Murdoch University | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Consultant,business owner | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Profession | Policy advisor Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Zak Richard Francis Kirkup (born 23 February 1987) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Liberal Party,and served as a member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Dawesville from 2017 to 2021.
In November 2020,Kirkup was elected as the leader of the Western Australian Liberal Party and became Leader of the Opposition. [1] He led the party into the 2021 state election,in which they were defeated in a wipeout loss. He made the unprecedented decision to concede defeat two weeks prior to the election taking place. He lost his own seat of Dawesville to Labor's Lisa Munday,becoming the first major party leader in Western Australia to lose his seat in 88 years. [2] Shortly after the election,Kirkup announced his resignation from politics.
Kirkup was born in Perth to Penni Hulston and Rob Kirkup. His mother was an immigrant from New Zealand,while his father was Australian. Zak Kirkup's paternal grandfather was Aboriginal –a member of the Yamatji people of the Mid West. He has one half-sister,who was born when his mother was 17 and given up for adoption. [3] [4]
He grew up in the eastern suburbs around Midland. Kirkup attended Woodlupine Primary School in Forrestfield and Governor Stirling Senior High School in Woodbridge.
Kirkup worked as a research assistant to Matt Birney (the state leader of the opposition at the time). He later worked in the office of Senator Judith Adams,as a campaign officer at the 2007 federal election,as deputy state director of campaigns (under Ben Morton),and in the office of Premier Colin Barnett as an adviser on environmental issues. [3]
In 2012,Kirkup was named and subsequently cleared in a Public Sector Commission investigation into alleged breaches of the code of ethics that binds WA ministerial staff. The investigation was triggered by an incident at a Perth pub. Kirkup was drinking with a colleague from Barnett's office who falsely informed journalists that then opposition leader Mark McGowan was at the same pub. The colleague also distributed an image of McGowan's home. Kirkup denied any knowledge of his colleague's actions,which the Commission accepted. [5]
After the 2013 state election he switched to the private sector for a period,finding employment as a consultant with building company BGC. [6]
In April 2016,Kirkup won Liberal preselection for the state seat of Dawesville,replacing the retiring former deputy Liberal leader Kim Hames. [7] He won the seat by only 343 votes at the 2017 election,narrowly avoiding becoming a victim of the significant state-wide swing to the Labor Party. Kirkup was one of only thirteen Liberals in the parliament and one of only four in seats outside the metropolitan area. [8]
In 2020,Kirkup was criticised for his remarks on Clive Palmer's defamation suit against Premier Mark McGowan. State Government lawyers had lodged a counter claim to Palmer's action,a move intended to offset any damages awarded to Palmer. This prompted Kirkup to call McGowan "a princess" who needed to "harden up". [9]
After Liza Harvey's resignation four months out from the 2021 Western Australian state election,Kirkup said he would run to be leader. While Kalgoorlie Liberal MLA Kyran O'Donnell publicly opposed Kirkup's tilt,citing his narrow margin in his seat of Dawesville, [10] Kirkup said that he was "up for the fight" in the upcoming election and he stated that all Liberal policies would be under review in the lead-up to the election. [11] At the resulting leadership election,Kirkup was elected leader of the Liberal Party unopposed.
Premier Mark McGowan criticised Kirkup and the Liberal Party of WA,stating that they remained a "big risk to the state",and that the constant leadership changes meant the party was "blowing itself up and becoming a train wreck". McGowan also took aim at Kirkup's perceived lack of experience,stating the Liberals were "inexperienced,risky and divided... We are three months from a state election and they don't have any policies. They have had four years to get policies ready and they don't have any." [11]
On 25 February 2021,16 days prior to the 2021 Western Australian state election,Kirkup admitted he did not expect the Liberal Party to win the election. At the time,polls suggested that Labor could pick up a 12.5 percent swing,which would have cut the Liberals down to as few as two seats. Kirkup said that his main priority was ensuring the Liberals would be able to form a credible opposition,arguing that a Liberal party room reduced to the single digits would be in no position to stop Labor if it went "too far". The move for a leader of a major political party to concede an election before it occurred was unprecedented in Australian politics. [12]
At the election,amid a massive Labor wave that swept through Western Australia,Kirkup was heavily defeated by Labor challenger Lisa Munday,suffering a swing of over 14 percent.
Since the 2021 election,Kirkup has moved to Subiaco,Western Australia. [13] In around May 2021,Kirkup co-founded Kolbang Pty. Ltd.,an Aboriginal-operated electrical contracting business. [14] [15] [16] He later became the business editor of the National Indigenous Times. [17]
Kirkup married in February 2018, [18] [19] but separated from his wife in October 2019. [20]
In December 2020,Kirkup revealed that he had been diagnosed with depression during the previous summer and had subsequently undergone treatment. [21] Kirkup said that if people are "worried about the fact that that might make me a worse or better leader,I can promise you I understand the emotions that I've experienced,and I've got help and I've got through it." [21]
Conflict of interests concerns were raised over Kirkup's relationship with Jenna Clarke,the assistant editor of The West Australian. Kirkup said that "those issues have been dealt with from a conflict of interest perspective now... between Jenna and her bosses over at Seven West." [11] [8]
Colin James Barnett is an Australian former politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other portfolios in Western Australia's Court–Cowan Ministry.
Dawesville is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Dawesville is named for the southwestern Mandurah suburb of Dawesville,which falls within its borders.
Mark McGowan is an Australian former politician and naval officer who served as the 30th premier of Western Australia from 2017 until his retirement in 2023. He was the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2012 to 2023 and a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Rockingham from 1996 to 2023.
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Kim Desmond Hames is an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2017. He served as a minister in the governments of Richard Court and Colin Barnett,and was deputy premier to Barnett from 2008 to 2016. Hames retired from parliament at the 2017 state election.
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Mia Jane Davies is an Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition and leader of the National Party in Western Australia from March 2021 to January 2023. She has been a member of the state Legislative Assembly since 2013,having previously served in the Legislative Council from 2009 to 2013. Davies was elected deputy leader of the Nationals in November 2013,and replaced Brendon Grylls as leader in March 2017 following his defeat at the 2017 state election. As a result of the Liberal Party's electoral wipeout at the 2021 state election,she became leader of the opposition after Premier Mark McGowan gave her party the official opposition party funding,the first member of her party to hold the role since Arthur Watts in 1947. She resigned as leader of the opposition and leader of her party in January 2023,and said she would not recontest her seat at the 2025 election.
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Liza Mary Harvey is an Australian politician who was the Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2008 to 2021,representing the seat of Scarborough. She was a minister in the government of Colin Barnett,and in 2016 was appointed deputy premier,becoming the first woman to hold the position. She became leader of the opposition after being elected unopposed to replace Mike Nahan as state Liberal leader on 13 June 2019. On 22 November 2020,she resigned as Liberal leader and was replaced by Zak Kirkup. She lost her seat at the 2021 election.
The 2017 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 11 March 2017 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia,including all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council. The eight-and-a-half-year two-term incumbent Liberal–WA National government,led by Premier Colin Barnett,was defeated in a landslide by the Labor opposition,led by Opposition Leader Mark McGowan.
Elizabeth Mettam is an Australian politician. She has been the Liberal member for Vasse in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since a by-election on 18 October 2014. She has been the leader of the Western Australian Liberal Party since January 2023 and was the deputy leader of the party from December 2020 to January 2023. At the 2021 state election,she was one of only two Liberal MLAs to retain their seat,the other being David Honey.
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The Western Australian Liberal Party,officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division),is the division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Western Australia. Founded in March 1949 as the Liberal and Country League of Western Australia (LCL),it simplified its name to the Liberal Party in 1968.
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