Lessons learnt growing up in the country to guide David Honey

New WA Liberal leader David Honey says the time he spent growing up in the Great Southern should hold him in good stead as he tries to hold Labor to account over the next four years. Mr Honey was born in Mt Barker and grew up on the family farm between Cranbrook and Frankland River, attending Cranbrook Primary School before boarding away from home in Perth. He said it was not an easy life but he remembered it fondly. “When I was a little kid, we had no running water, we had no electricity and that was not unlike a number of families at the time,” Mr Honey said. “Our entire water supply was a 3000-gallon rainwater tank. “Back then, we had the cabarets at the Gordon River Hall and that was high excitement. It was a really vibrant little community and that was my world. “If I was clever enough, I would have stayed a farmer.” Mr Honey was catapulted into the leadership after Labor’s landslide election result left his party with just two Lower House seats. The Cottesloe MP entered State Parliament in 2018 through a by-election triggered by Colin Barnett’s resignation. He had previously served as the president of the WA Liberal Party in the 1990s. Mr Honey said his early life on the farm showed him the value of taking practical action and working with the community to improve life for everyone. “Like all farm kids then, by the age of 12, I could strip down a diesel engine and rebuild it,” he said. “You knew what made the world go round. You were reliant on yourself. “People in regional communities are much more focused on the practical things. “I think when you grow up in that practical environment, it helps you focus a bit more on things that really do make a difference and to not get distracted. “You don’t leave people behind, you don’t ignore people who are marginalised.” Mr Honey said the only way a decimated Liberal Party could hold Labor to account was to work practically and constructively with the Nationals WA. “Both sides are aware the Government has the numbers. If we’re going to hold the Government to account effectively, we have to work closely together and both sides are determined to do that,” he said. “Whether that’s an alliance, whether that’s just a formal arrangement around portfolios or whether it goes all the way to a full coalition, we will have a close working relationship to hold the Government to account.” Despite the mountain of work ahead of him to rebuild the party, Mr Honey said he wanted to make homelessness a priority in his time as leader. “The State Government have ignored it,” he said. “They get Federal money every year for building social housing and what they’ve been doing is selling social housing at the same rate that they’re building new ones, so there’s been no net increase.”