Secessionism in Western Australia

Part of the appeal of an independent Western Australia derives from its geographical uniqueness: it is the world's second-largest administrative division by area, behind only the Sakha Republic in Russia;[6] and Perth, WA's only large metropolitan area, is often referred to as the world's most isolated metropolis, situated more than 2000 kilometres away from the nearest large city (Adelaide in South Australia).

One recurring argument by proponents of secession is based on the assumption that a federal government in Canberra will favour the business and popular interests of the larger population centres lying to the east of this state.

[b] Western Australia is the only state not specifically listed in this preamble, as its final decision to join came too late for the constitution, already enacted by the UK Parliament, to be altered.

This changed little with the granting of self-government to WA in 1889 – and the election of the Colony's first Premier John Forrest – which meant virtual independence from Britain, in all matters except defence, foreign affairs and trade.

In early 1900, Walter Griffiths travelled to London on behalf of the Eastern Goldfields Reform League executive, to present the petition to the British government and lobby the Colonial Office to either approve Auralia's separation, or force Western Australia to accept Federation.

From 1 January 1901, when WA formally joined the other Colonies in federating as States of the Commonwealth of Australia, the impetus for creation of Auralia waned.

The Constitution, which came into force on 1 January 1901 states in its opening preamble:[20] WHEREAS the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established.

And whereas it is expedient to provide for the admission into the Commonwealth of other Australasian Colonies and possessions of the Queen ... [emphasis added]Western Australia was not specifically mentioned in the preamble as its support was given too late for the document to be amended prior to enactment.

[16] James MacCallum Smith, the proprietor of the local weekly newspaper, The Sunday Times started publishing pro-secessionist articles in 1907 under its editor Alfred T. Chandler.

On 8 April 1933, Nationalist Premier Sir James Mitchell's government held a referendum on secession alongside the State parliamentary election.

The delegation included the Agent General, Sir Hal Colebatch, Matthew Lewis Moss, James MacCallum Smith, and Keith Watson.

Is a party to that agreement – after giving it a trial for 35 years and having proved it to be hampering to its industries, destructive to its prosperity and a grave bar to its development – prohibited from seeking relief?

[22]The United Kingdom House of Commons established a select committee to consider the issue but after 18 months of negotiations and lobbying, it finally refused to consider the matter, further declaring that it could not legally grant secession.

Perceptions of a disproportionately low share of federal resources sent to the state relative to its economic contribution to the country further fanned a wave of secessionist rhetoric.

For example, at the 22 October 2008 Vista Public Lecture, former Western Australian Premier, Richard Court, said that the case for secessionism only strengthened while the Commonwealth continued to exploit the State's resource-rich economy.

[24] He argued that, at the time, Western Australia accounted for 35% of the nation's export income yet most of the revenue was used to strengthen the "financial muscle growing in Canberra".

In July 2011, the Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Norman Moore, made the controversial statement that WA should secede and rely primarily on China for military defence to remain an independent nation free from Canberra's influence.

[25] Western Australia was grouped with Scotland, Wales, the Basque Country, and Catalonia as "places seeking maximum fiscal and policy autonomy from their national capitals" in an October 2013 opinion piece in The New York Times.