“The student me, the young professional, the stay-at-home mother me and the small business owner, all voted differently,” Gannon said, describing herself as a lifelong swing voter.
She said her first taste of community leadership came by accident: when her youngest child started kinder, she reluctantly volunteered as treasurer, only for the president to move interstate. “I Steven Bradbury-ed to become kinder president,” she said. “I have always been prepared to contribute to my community.”
It was during her advocacy in the Champion Road level-crossing fight – where she led the Keep Champion Road Open campaign – that something shifted.
That battle over Champion Road – a level crossing in the industrial backblocks that links Williamstown and Newport and is a vital connector that government wants to close – has mobilised residents.
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Gannon said many locals no longer felt valued by the major parties.
“People in the west feel taken for granted. They assume we will continue to vote historically how this seat has always voted.”
The West Party believes grounding its campaign in neighbourhood activism may be the key to converting that frustration into votes.
At the 2022 state election, Labor minister Melissa Horne suffered an 8 per cent swing against her in Williamstown, while Labor’s primary vote fell sharply in several other seats in the region.
In Werribee, the collapse was more dramatic. Labor’s primary vote dropped by more than 15 per cent at the February byelection. Hopper, who first contested the seat in 2022, picked up about half of Labor’s lost support.
Hopper, now the West Party’s co-ordinator and candidate for Werribee, said the movement was driven by people “prepared to stand up for their communities”, who were “high on empathy” and already deeply embedded in local networks.
Paul Hopper is part of the West Party, which he says will stay in the “sensible centre” of politics.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“The common thread is they don’t believe in having just one party dominate for so long,” he said. “People are grateful of having a place to call their home.”
Another candidate endorsed by the party is 47-year-old Luan Walker, who will run in St Albans.
Having migrated from Vietnam at the age of 11, Walker has lived in the city’s west for 20 years. Having previously held a Liberal Party membership and running in unwinnable seats, he said factionalism ultimately drove him out.
A former cleaner, delivery driver, store manager and disability worker, Walker said the West Party offered something simpler: “We want the best for the west. The West Party gives the people an option.”
Two upper house candidates have also been announced: Dr Joe Garra, an obstetrician with a 25-year career who previously led a successful campaign against the government’s plan to build a youth detention centre in Werribee South, and former Wyndham City councillor Sahana Ramesh.
For Gannon, the campaign is simple. “Historically, we have always been taken for granted,” she said. “There is a movement in the west. It is time for us to have a stronger and more powerful voice.”
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