State election 2021: Labor will likely hold the Kimberley. These are the first issues Divina D’Anna must solve

The Kimberley is a safe seat, and by all accounts this is a safe election for the incumbent Labor Government, so expect Divina D’Anna to win the seat comfortably this weekend. With Labor MP Josie Farrer retiring, the Libs and Greens running high-profile candidates, and the Nats eyeing strong support in the East Kimberley, there is every chance Labor’s margin will be trimmed, but it is unlikely to be enough to cause concern. Going forward, youth crime and the rental crisis are clearly the two most pressing issues facing the Kimberley right now. Unlike the Nats and Liberal candidates, Ms D’Anna has not publicly backed opening safe spaces to bring youth picked up off the street to, which appears to have broad public support and the backing of the Kimberley’s top cop. It is destined to become the first test of whether she will toe the Labor Party line or be a champion for her constituents. There are no obvious solutions on the table now to fix the housing crisis — which will only get worse when the dry season comes around — so our new Kimberley MP will need to get straight to work convincing government to form a solution. A mining-style temporary workforce village which can be quickly mobilised could provide short-term answers, but we need long-term thinking to follow this up. A replica of the State Government-supported Searipple Village and Quarter apartments in Karratha should be on the table. Out in the east Kimberley, sentiment about the State Government’s border controls is turning sour, and a report in our sister paper The Kimberley Echo rams home why. “We would normally fly over 30,000 people for a season, but last year we were sitting more at about 4 or 5 per cent of what we would normally carry in our business,” Aviair’s Michael McConachy said last week. Labor needs either to get in line with uniform national border rules or cough up more money should the uncertainty render our east Kimberley tourism operators unviable. The above are the first tests for our new local member.