Whether federal issues have an impact on state elections depends on whether it works in your favour to say so at the time — just like how polls come and go and the only one that matters is on election day, except when they show your political rival is out of touch with the electorate. 

“There is no evidence of federal factors playing a role there,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Sunday when asked if he and his Canberra colleagues had put his mate Colin Barnett out of a job. A Crikey tipster thought this was funny when, in 2013, Turnbull’s deputy Liberal leader (and proud Sandgroper) Julie Bishop said the federal branch of the Labor Party had damaged WA Labor’s chances:

“This result is reflecting on Labor’s brand. Everybody says Mark McGowan ran a good campaign, but Labor’s brand in this state is toxic, and there is a Gillard factor,” Bishop said four years ago. How times change.