00:02Nedlands residents divided over Jonathan Huston's new direction.
00:07I think that politicians, if they're elected by a party,
00:10should fulfil that commitment to that party for the term of government.
00:15If he's made that decision and he's obviously disengaged with his colleagues,
00:21then it's best that he make his own way.
00:24Generally I think the more independence the better.
00:26Just gives people a little bit more power and more say.
00:29He's going to be an independent now, will you still support him?
00:33No.
00:33On Thursday Mr Huston resigned from the WA Liberal Party
00:37to sit as the state's only lower house independent,
00:40leaving the Liberals with just six lower house seats.
00:42His departure motivated by, among several things,
00:45a policy desire to raise mining royalty rates,
00:48something opposition leader Basil Zemplis disagrees with.
00:51Mr Huston's move prompting a scathing reaction from some Liberals.
00:55I think it betrays the Liberal Party supporters in his electorate,
00:59many of whom actually support the mining sector in Western Australia.
01:03But he denies he's let Liberal voters down.
01:06I haven't let them down in terms of being a Liberal,
01:09I'm just not a member of the Liberal parliamentary team.
01:11The job I have now is to prove to them that there is no greater,
01:15more stronger Liberal in the parliament than the one they've got in the Netherlands.
01:18While again ruling out a move to One Nation.
01:21Of course not. Of course not.
01:24That just doesn't really fit with my brand as a person.
01:27Mr Huston says he'll reveal more in coming weeks
01:31on what his independent brand will look like
01:34and insists he's got plenty of time to win back disappointed Netherlands voters.
01:39But it's likely to be a tough task
01:42without the backing of a major party and its resources.
01:45The Liberals soldiering on and looking forward.
01:49In terms of where it leaves the party more broadly,
01:52well our efforts particularly in Netherlands now
01:53are obviously going to be focused on identifying
01:55a high quality candidate in the 2029 state election.
01:59Political tensions continuing to bubble in a blue ribbon seat.
02:03So, we're going to be following.
02:03Okay, so let's go to one of our next meeting
02:03All right, so.
02:04Let's go to the next meeting.
02:04One of the next meeting is I'm going to come out.
02:06I'm going to imagine the next meeting.
