WA'S sitting regional MPs generally strengthened their grip on the State's agriculture regions for the Liberal Party in Saturday's Federal election which saw the coalition retain government.
While returned Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the overall coalition victory as a "miracle" because it overturned every pre-election poll prediction, the five WA lower house regional representatives - Andrew Hastie in Canning, Melissa Price in Durack, Nola Marino in Forrest, Rick Wilson in O'Connor and Christian Porter in Pearce - were never seriously challenged.
On a two-party preferred basis, the Liberals improved their margins in Canning, Durack, Forrest and Pearce, with swings to them of between 1.98 per cent (Forrest) and 4.59pc (Canning).
Mr Wilson had a personal swing against him of less than 1pc, attracting 41.83pc of the primary vote, but on a two-party preferred basis that translated to a swing against the Liberal Party in O'Connor of 1.04pc.
A Katanning sheep farmer, Mr Wilson attracted strong support - up to 95.22pc on a two-party preferred basis at the Harrismith polling place - generally across the Southern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions of the O'Connor electorate which covers almost one third of WA.
But in four Collie polling places and at Laverton he was out-polled by Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Shelley Payne and at Quinninup he was out polled by both Ms Payne and The Nationals' John Hassell.
Ms Marino in Forrest did not need a preference flow from Clive Palmer's United Australia Party (UAP) or anyone else to be returned, increasing her personal margin by 3.41pc for a fifth term as the local MP on an outright majority.
The Waroona dairy farmer entered Federal politics in 2007 and attracted 52.85pc of primary votes and won every polling place in the Forrest electorate except Margaret River.
Most vulnerable of the regional WA MPs because of significant urban development in parts of his Pearce electorate, Attorney General in the previous government Christian Porter, suffered a slight personal swing of 1.64pc against him on primary votes but was easily returned for a third term against high-profile former police officer Kim Travers for the ALP.
Mr Porter polled best in the agricultural areas of the electorate which covers Perth's outer northern and eastern suburbs and a broad sweep of adjacent regional areas, but on a two-party preferred basis trailed Ms Travers in rapidly developing suburbs like Clarkson and Ellenbrook.
In Canning, another fringe urban electorate with significant recent development, Andrew Hastie also suffered a slight personal swing of 0.84pc against him, just missing repeating his outright majority from the last election.
He attracted 49.46pc of the primary vote and carried all but two of the Canning polling places.
In Durack, the largest electorate in Australia, the previous government's Environment Minister Melissa Price, under concerted attack from the ALP and The Australian Greens before the election, shrugged off their criticisms and widened her personal majority by 2.41pc for a third term.
Ms Price polled very strongly across the Northern and Central Wheatbelt, but less successfully in the far north at places like Broome, Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, South Hedland and Wyndham.
She attracted 44.15pc of the primary vote.
Of the minor parties, Pauline Hanson's One Nation was the most successful, able to field candidates in all five regional seats and attracting between 5.75pc (Forrest) and 9.56pc (Durack) of the vote, despite a party led by Ms Hanson not contesting a Federal election in WA since 2007.
Along with the ALP, The Nationals and The Greens also have some soul searching to do in WA.
Their regional candidates' voting percentages - apart from The Greens' Nerilee Boshammer in Forrest - went backwards this election.
The Nationals' candidates in Durack and O'Connor both suffered swings of more than 5pc against them and The Nationals will not get any of their election advertising expenses reimbursed in Pearce because their candidate failed to achieve the 4pc of primary vote eligibility criteria.
Swings against The Greens were less severe, below 2.5pc, and it will be able to apply for some of its advertising expenses back in each of the five regional seats.
The UAP, Australian Christians, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Western Australia Party, Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party and The Great Australian Party all failed to achieve 4pc of the vote in any of the regional WA seats.
While "elated" by the Federal election result, Mr Wilson said in his O'Connor electorate his personal vote had taken a "hit" on the issue of live sheep exports in the Albany and Denmark areas.
He said the cashless debit card trial in the Goldfields had also had an impact, but not enough to change the result which is likely to see him with about 65pc of the two-party preferred vote once counting is completed.
"I'm really happy with that result," Mr Wilson said.
He said that due to the size of the O'Connor electorate and his young family he would not actively seek a ministerial position in the new government, although he would accept one if it was offered.
Mr Wilson said there were a number of "issues" to raise with parliamentary colleagues when he returned to Canberra early next week.
Ms Marino said it was "an honour and a privilege to be able to represent the South West in parliament for a fifth term".
"As a dairy farmer I will continue to represent the interests of regional and rural Australians to the best of my ability," Ms Marino said.
"I also look forward to the passing of proposed laws to prevent the rise of vegan activism from disrupting our valuable agricultural sector."
In a prepared statement, Ms Price said the coalition victory was important for the nation.
"The coalition has outlined a responsible agenda for the future and Scott Morrison and his team will hit the ground running to deliver that agenda," Ms Price said, without indicating whether she expected to continue as a member of Mr Morrison's cabinet team.
"It has been an amazing achievement led by an outstanding PM who constantly reminded Australians that you didn't need to bring someone else down to succeed, compared to the Labor campaign which pitted groups of Australians against one another with policies like the retiree tax and housing tax.
"I am incredibly humbled by the increase in my margin and even more determined to continue to deliver for the people of Durack," she said.
WAFarmers will host a post-election forum in Geraldton on Thursday, June 13, to dissect the results and what they may mean for agriculture in WA.
See wafarmers.org.au for details.
