The WA state election was less than ideal for Senator Pauline Hanson. Picture: AAP

WA’s new Labor Premier Mark McGowan trounced Colin Barnett’s two-term Liberal government on Saturday, claiming as many as 41 MPs in the 59-seat parliament. The prime minister said Mr Barnett has made a remarkable contribution to WA and the nation, and agreed with the ousted premier the result was largely an “it’s time” factor after eight-and-a-half years in power.

Malcolm Turnbull has declined to rule out doing further preference deals with One Nation in the future. Picture: Britta Campion / The AustralianSource:News Corp Australia

“He has played a great innings magnificently,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

Asked whether doing a preference deal with One Nation rather than the Nationals was a mistake, Mr Turnbull said this was a matter for the relevant division of the party and was entered into with the intention of maximising Liberal parliamentary representation.

“The next federal election is more than two years away and all preference divisions will be considered by the party organisation closer to an election,” he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had urged the prime minister to take heed of the Liberals’ huge loss in WA and rule out once-and-for-all his government doing any further deals with One Nation.

“He is the national leader - I’ve ruled it out, he should do the same,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce admitted the One Nation deal was a “mistake”, saying it is in the Liberal Party’s interest to be close with his party. “You just have to look ... it hasn’t been a good day in the office,” Mr Joyce told ABC radio.

Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce admitted the One Nation deal was a “mistake” Picture: Mathew FarrellSource:News Corp Australia

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale was more blunt, saying the clear message is Australians are “not mugs” when the Liberals do a “grubby” deal with One Nation. “If you side up with a party that is openly racist, bigoted, short-sighted, xenophobic, economically illiterate you will be punished for it, and that’s what we saw with Colin Barnett’s result in WA,” Senator Di Natale told Sky News. Finance Minister and WA senator Mathias Cormann said the result was not unexpected when internal polling suggested the WA Liberals’ primary vote was as low as 29 per cent and the defeat was a “long time coming”.

“We will review all aspects of the campaign and the ultimate outcome and relevant judgments will be made at the right time,” he told ABC television. Labor frontbencher Mark Butler labelled Labor’s WA win as “stunning” and One Nation’s performance a “damp squib”.

He said feedback from the WA Labor branch was the One Nation deal and the national penalty rates decision accelerated the swing away from the Liberals. ACTU president Ged Kearney said the penalty rates factor was the “last straw” in a state where workers were feeling the pinch and more people than ever were relying on unemployment benefits.

“I think it was probably a bit of an icing on the cake type of issue for people in WA,” she told Sky News.

Premier-elect West Australian Labor leader Mark McGowan with his wife Sarah and children (L to R) Samuel, Alexander and Amelia. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

SPOILT MILK

PAULINE Hanson has likened Colin Barnett to spoiled milk that should have been thrown out after One Nation fared worse in the WA election than she expected, blaming the result on the party’s preference deal with the Liberals.

Early results indicated the party failed to secure a lower house seat despite intense campaigning.

But it did secure at least one upper house seat, which was the objective of the preference deal, with state leader Colin Tincknell claiming the South West. Mr Tincknell said the party had a good chance of winning another upper house seat in the Mining and Pastoral region with candidate Robin Scott.

Pauline Hanson has likened Colin Barnett to ‘sour’ milk. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

The WA state election has raised some serious issues for One Nation. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

There would still be some soul-searching during the election debrief, Senator Hanson said.

“Doing the deal with the Libs has done damage to us, in all honesty. It was a mistake,” she said.

WA ELECTION: LABOR CLAIMS VICTORY

“We are really going to have to have a good look at this because all I heard all day leading up to this election was ‘why are you sending your preferences to the Liberal party?’

“It wasn’t One Nation. I think it was Colin Barnett — people did not want Colin Barnett.”

She said the two-term Liberal leader should have stepped aside or been given the boot before the election.

Pauline Hanson criticised Colin Barnett, saying WA voters simply ‘did not want (him)’. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

“It’s like when you’ve got milk in your fridge and it’s starting to go sour, you throw it out, and that’s what they should have done.”

She also admitted the campaign started late, didn’t have a big party machine behind it, and candidates were inexperienced.

But she still insisted the party had done “well”.

“You can’t deny that we’ve done extremely well here — there is a place for One Nation in Western Australia so it can only grow from here,” she said.

“Major parties, have no doubt, they see me and One Nation as a threat to their political existence.”

She labelled the victors Labor “liars cheats and hypocrites” who could not be trusted for placing the Liberals above One Nation on how-to-vote cards. “If we win seats in the upper house, we can keep the Labor Party, hopefully, honest.”

Premier-elect West Australian Labor leader Mark McGowan and his wife Sarah acknowledge supporters at the party's election night event in Perth. Picture: APSource:AAP

Senator Hanson told her party function in Perth’s southern suburbs that she never expected to win lower house seats, despite telling reporters when she touched down on Sunday that the party had a chance to win the seats of Pilbara and Kalgoorlie.

Mr Tincknell chipped in to nominate Albany, Baldivis, Darling Range and Swan Hills.