nationals wa candidate tony crook defeated liberal party incumbent wilson tuckey in the lower house seat of o'connor at the 2010 federal election, where a four-seat deficit for both sides saw the first hung parliament since the 1940 federal election. crook initially sat on the crossbench after the election; he and his party remained open to negotiations with both sides on the formation of the 2010 federal government. in april 2012, however, he moved from the crossbench to sit with the nationals. his main platform was pro-royalties for regions policy and anti-mineral resource rent tax. since his election, crook voted at times for federal labor government policies in parliament contrary to the official position of the national party of australia. crook retired at the 2013 federal election and the seat of o'connor was won by liberal rick wilson, who narrowly defeated nationals wa candidate chub witham.