Major parties score poorly on environmental promises ahead of WA election

Western Australia’s peak environmental body has given both major parties a big fail for their environmental platforms in the final days of the state election campaign.

The Conservation Council of WA’s environment scorecard rates the Liberals platform the worst, with failures in every area including water protection, a 2030 emissions target, cockatoo protection, support for fossil fuel projects and forest mining.

Labor fared slightly better, getting a tick for its stance against nuclear power but marked poorly in all other areas. The Greens, Sustainable Australia and Animal Justice parties scored the best.

CCWA acting executive director Mia Pepper said there was a lot of work to do for the next government on nature protection.

“Nature needs our vote. In 2025 alone, WA has suffered two cyclones, coral bleaching at Ningaloo, and bushfires. There are live proposals to clear precious jarrah forests and banksia woodlands for mining, which is critical habitat for endangered species,” she said.

“Together, we can put the environment high on the agenda this election and help ensure the next state government prioritises people and the planet.”

The scorecard comes as WAtoday probed both Premier Roger Cook and Liberal leader Libby Mettam on their climate change polices ahead of the election.

We asked both leaders whether the images of the Ningaloo reef bleaching concerned them.

Mettam had seen images of the bleached reef, but when asked whether climate change concerned her she said: “The science is settled.”

When pressed further, Mettam paused for 20 seconds before saying she was “concerned about a range of issues”.

Conservation Council of WA’s environmental policy scorecard for the 2025 election.Credit: CCWA

“There are federal issues and there are state issues, and what we’ve seen under the Cook Labor government over the last eight years is a number of issues which this government has comprehensively failed on,” she said.

Cook said the images of coral bleaching had increased his resolve to shut down coal-fired power stations and to help the state’s South East Asian trading partners to also shut down coal power stations by using WA gas.

“Let me just say, any impacts – particularly in relation to coral reef bleaching, which have to do with global impacts, not Western Australian impacts per se – it does increase my resolve to eliminate coal-fired power stations in WA by 2030 and that’s a non-negotiable,” he said.

“It also has increased my resolve to make sure that our South East Asian trading partners can get out of coal as well, and that’s why we need to make sure that we have gas as a transition fuel for those countries.”

Labor faced pressure in the last term to legislate a 2030 emissions target and 2050 target, which it did not do.

It still intends to introduce climate legislation that will set a pathway for reducing emissions in the state and include a 2050 target, but not a 2030 target.

Mettam said the Liberals would not set a target for either, instead leaving it to the federal government, which has set a target of 43 per cent fewer emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We will respect whatever the targets are set by the federal government,” she said.

The biggest conundrum in WA is what to do with the state’s ageing coal-fired power stations.

The centrepiece of Cook’s emissions reduction plan is to shut all coal generation by 2030 with batteries and rooftop solar to pick up the slack.

The Liberals have labelled this unrealistic and have promised to build 300 megawatts of new gas generation capacity in the state and close coal power when the risk to energy supply is minimal.

“We have an abundance of gas which is critical to transition to cleaner energy,” Mettam said.

“What we cannot afford is for Western Australians to be kept in the dark and not be able to have their lights and air conditioners on during a heat wave.”

Cook said this approach was lazy and said the state was absolutely ready to shut coal power down by 2030.

He said a unit in Collie was mothballed in September and was not needed during summer, so it would be decommissioned in April.

Cool also said the grid was ready to be powered by renewables, which would be supported by a $387 million commitment to install home batteries on thousands of homes across the state.

“We add the equivalent of two new small gas-fired power stations to the grid every year through rooftop solar alone,” he said.

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