after the Federal election on 24 November 2007. In December, Newspoll recorded Omodei's preferred premier rating as 13% against premier Alan Carpenter's 63% — ranking as one of the lowest ever figures for an Opposition leader in Australia. In January 2008, Buswell announced he would challenge Omodei's leadership. After a spill motion carried in the Liberal party room on 17 January, Omodei did not contest the ensuring leadership spill, which was won by Buswell. After losing the leadership, Omodei sought preselection to move to the Legislative Council after boundary changes saw Warren-Blackwood becoming marginal when it merged with nearby Stirling held by the Nationals. Although preselected for the winnable second seat for the South West Legislative Council region, a State conference on 3 May 2008 lowered him to an unwinnable fourth position. Omodei expressed his outrage that as a former Liberal leader he had to struggle even to find a seat in the upper house in order to stay in Parliament. However, WA Liberal state president Danielle Blain said that the party preferred that Omodei contest the reconfigured seat of Blackwood-Stirling. On 19 June, Omodei announced his resignation from the Liberal Party. In his announcement, he stated that in his opinion, Buswell was "not a fit and proper person to lead the party". However, he did not make his resignation official until 19 June. In 2017, he once again became President of the Shire of Manjimup. He has also been Commissioner of the Shire of Cue (2011–2012) and the Shire of Perenjori (2019–2020). References |- Living people 1950 births Australian politicians of Italian descent Leaders of the Opposition in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Manjimup, Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Mayors of places in Western Australia Western Australian local councillors