‘Cowards in the shadows’: Libby Mettam hits out at leadership speculation ahead of final Parliamentary week

Liberal Leader Libby Mettam has accused “cowards making comments in the shadows” of undermining her leadership, as she appeared alongside rumoured rival Basil Zempilas to rally the troops in Scarborough. Ahead of the last sitting week of State Parliament, both were guests at the campaign launch for local Liberal candidate Damien Kelly, but only Ms Mettam was set to address the crowd of about 200 supporters. Ms Mettam’s performance has been under the spotlight four months out from the State election, but she has insisted she won’t resign and rejected predictions of another landslide Liberal loss. “We’re talking about cowards making comments in the shadows, I’m not distracted by that,” she said. “I’m not going to be distracted by polls, I never comment on polls and I’ll leave those comments there.” Mr Zempilas, Liberal candidate for Churchlands and Seven West Media employee, has ruled out challenging Ms Mettam for the leadership before the March 8 poll, but speculation has persisted that she could be pressured to resign. “It’s business as usual for us,” Ms Mettam said. “I’ve enjoyed his contributions at a business forum that we chaired together and we continue to stay in contact and work together, focused on what Western Australians are really focused and caring about which is our plan for addressing cost of living.” Tuesday is the last scheduled party-room meeting, where a spill motion could be put forward and The West Australian understands Ms Mettam still has majority support of the party’s nine MPs. Those numbers will change after the March election, with at least three Liberal MP’s exiting politics, but how many new Liberals are a genuine chance of winning seats remains contentious. One source said they were resigned to “four more tough years” vastly outnumbered in Opposition. Premier Roger Cook has seized on an election ‘code of conduct’ for Liberal and Nationals candidates, squaring off in metropolitan seats, as proof of “chaos” within the Opposition ranks. “It’s another example of just how chaotic and dysfunctional they are,” Mr Cook said. “They’re disunited, they can’t work out who the leader is, they’ve got no policies and quite frankly they’re a risk to our economy.”