With a sturdy gaze and kind smile, Carnarvon local Judy Bartllet knows all too well about the issues affecting the town.
"I've been broken into twice, I've had the windows smashed on my car twice, and that's kids, you know," she said.
But her brow furrows when asked about why Labor has not put forward a candidate in WA's North West Central by-election, one week from today on September 17.
"I'm very upset about that. I think they should have done — they're already in power.
"I'm a Labor person. I don't give a damn about anybody else."
North West Central is one of the largest electorates in Australia, spanning 820,000 square kilometres, but it is home to just 11,000 voters.
The by-election was triggered with the resignation of Nationals MP Vince Catania in June.
Mr Catania won the seat of North West in 2008 as a Labor candidate, only to defect to the Nationals the following year.
The North West electorate was abolished in 2013 and replaced with North West Central.
Not the first time
On the hustings for Liberal candidate Will Baston, shadow health minister Libby Mettam points out Labor also did not run a candidate in the Vasse by-election in 2014 following former treasurer Troy Buswell's spectacular resignation from politics.
That poll saw Ms Mettam take the seat, which she has retained ever since.
"How insulting for Labor voters that the McGowan government is not even giving them an option for a candidate," she said.
But WA Labor state secretary Ellie Whiteaker said it was common for political parties to not contest every by-election.
"Since 2008 there have been 11 by-elections and incumbent governments have not contested five of them," she said.
"The previous Liberal-National government did not contest three by-elections when they were in government."
While Ms Whiteaker declined to say why Labor was not running a candidate this time around, she defended the party's record with regional voters.
"WA Labor is proud of our four members of parliament who represent North-West Central in the Legislative Council," she said.
Who are the candidates?
A record number of 12 candidates have entered the race (in ballot order):
- Niels Glahn-Bertelsen (The Greens)
- Andrea Randle (Western Australia Party)
- Peter Baker (Small Business Party)
- Merome Beard (The Nationals)
- Gerald Laurent (One Nation)
- Leanne Lockyer (Legalise Cannabis)
- Jake Adkins McCoull (Liberal Democrats)
- Anthony Fels (Western Australia Party)
- Aaron Horsman (No Mandatory Vaccination)
- Peter D Dunne (Independent)
- Tony Stokes (Independent)
- Will Baston (Liberal)
Who has been seen in the electorate?
Of the large field of candidates, just three have addresses listed within the electorate — four are listed as living in Perth.
One week out from the by-election, only three two of the 12 candidates have been visible on the campaign trail.
One of those is Liberal candidate Will Baston; the manager of Jimba Jimba station says he has clocked up 7,606 kilometres in his car to date.
"I'm really interested in local communities and raising the profile of local communities in this by-election," he said.
Another candidate who has been busily touring the electorate is the Nationals' Merome Beard.
Ms Beard says she has travelled more than 8,500km since announcing her candidacy and expects it to exceed 10,000km by polling day.
The owner of the Port Hotel in Carnarvon and former staffer at Vince Catania's office says she is ready for the challenge.
"I understand how it all fits together and I just believe I can offer the region quite an in-depth understanding in feeding those issues up the line," she said.
The other candidate who is listed at an address within the electorate is Niels Glahn-Bertelsen from the Greens.
However, a WA Greens representative told ABC Pilbara that Mr Glahn-Bertelsen had recently been teaching at a school in Broome and is out of phone reception, working on a station south of Coral Bay.
Mr Glahn-Bertelsen previously told the ABC that living in a caravan in Exmouth and seeing staff forced to sleep in tents and on couches had opened his eyes to the region's housing crisis.
"Because that's all that was available and I was lucky enough to have mates that would put me up in there," he said.
A place for firsts
Due to the electorate's remoteness, the WA Electoral Commission has, for the first time, converted how-to-vote material into three Indigenous languages — Martu Wangka, Ngaanyatjarra and Wangkatja.
"So what we recognised with our remote communities is that a lot of them, English is not their first language and so we wanted to make sure they understand why the by-election is on and how they can cast their vote," electoral commissioner Robert Kennedy said.
Mr Kennedy is on the board that considers the distribution of electoral zones in Western Australia; he is not ruling out a reshaping of North West Central before the next state election.
"There legally has to be a redistribution before the next election," he said.
"I have no idea at this point what it's going to look like, so come back in November 2023 and I should have an answer for you about what the new North West Central might look like."
Don't mess with our arts show
The date of the by-election is a bone of contention for the Gascoyne Arts Society's Paquita Boston.
The Gascoyne Art Show was booked at Carnarvon's Woolshed for August — the same venue chosen by the WA Electoral Commission to host early voting and vote counting and processing.
It's the first time a WA by-election will be counted and processed at a location within the electorate rather than in Perth.
With no other venue option, the Gascoyne Arts Festival was rescheduled to August 2023.
"Whoever wins the election, please don't get run over by a bus, because we don't want another by-election next year ruining our arts show," Ms Boston said.
The by-election outcome may also play a part in a possible reshuffle of leadership within WA's Opposition.
For now, it is a matter of wait and see.
Editor's note 14/9/2022: This article has been amended for accuracy, changing the number of candidates who have been visible on the campaign trail from two to three, as Aaron Horsman, candidate of the No Mandatory Vaccination Party, has also campaigned in Carnarvon.
