Independent Curtin MP Kate Chaney has launched an extraordinary tirade against Seven West Media, accusing the company of running a “smear campaign” against her as she vies for reelection in her formerly blue-ribbon seat.
In a statement released Wednesday, Chaney said the Kerry Stokes-chaired company – which has significant control of the media landscape in Chaney’s home state of WA – was running a campaign against her to claw back lost influence on Australian politics.
Curtin MP Kate Chaney.Credit: Ross Swanborough
“Australia’s political landscape is shifting and the vested interests who’ve benefited from the old system are pushing back,” she said.
“The more they feel their influence slipping, the harder they’ll fight – pulling every lever they can to protect their position.
“We’re seeing this play out right now. Seven West Media isn’t just reporting on the election, it’s running a campaign.
“Its agenda is obvious, and no one in WA is under any illusion about whose interests it serves.”
Chaney said her experience was similar to other Independents.
“Across the country, Independent MPs are standing up for their communities, not party machines or corporate backers – and that makes some very powerful people nervous,” she said.
“But the people of Curtin are smart. They can see through a smear campaign and know who’s really fighting for them.”
Chaney has come under significant media pressure over her backflips on key WA issues, including Woodside’s bid to extend the life of the North West Shelf project and Labor’s live sheep export ban due in 2028.
The front page of The Sunday Times suggested losing was “no big issue” for Chaney, a claim she said was taken out of context.
WAtoday understands Chaney’s campaign team considered Seven West Media hostile, but had resisted publicly addressing her grievances.
The final straw was a video published by veteran Seven West columnist and reporter Ben Harvey on Tuesday night.
“The teals like all politicians are a little bit full of shit, but they’re actually worse because they act so pious like they’re above politics,” Harvey said in the video.
“If you vote for a teal candidate without knowing whether, when push comes to shove, whether they’ll go with him [Anthony Albanese] or him [Peter Dutton] you’re a f---ing idiot who doesn’t deserve to be part of democracy.”
In the video, Harvey railed against Climate 200’s backing of teal independents and Chaney’s family history, including her father Michael Chaney, who was a former Woodside chairman.
“She’s made a political career by calling the old man a destroyer of worlds,” Harvey said.
Chaney is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Climate 200, having received $260,000 from the organisation in six separate payments since August 2024.
The West Australian editor Chris Dore told this masthead Chaney’s claims were “nonsense”.
Asked whether he would elaborate, Dore said: “Sure. Absolute nonsense.”
The public stoush comes amidst a flurry of LinkedIn posts deriding Chaney’s links to Climate 200 by a senior lieutenant in Stokes’ investment vehicle, Australian Capital Equity, which has shareholdings in Seven West Media through its controlling stake in Seven Group Holdings.
ACE finance and investments director Brian O’Donnell has posted eight times on his public LinkedIn page in the past nine days, detailing to his followers why he cannot vote for Chaney as a constituent in Curtin.
O’Donnell’s biggest gripe was with the big money pouring into Climate 200’s coffers.
“My reaction to these articles is that it isn’t possible to see Climate 200 as a grassroots movement given the big money behind it, and this reinforces that I can’t vote for Kate Chaney in Curtin,” he told his followers on Wednesday.
“In general, I think it’s easier to see the correlation between the motives of donors to the major parties and the policies they pursue. It gets harder when a candidate with a number of very large donors tries to present as truly ‘independent, accountable and balanced’.”
O’Donnell said the posts were his personal views and did not reflect those of ACE and that he was not seeking any media publicity for his views.
A spokesman for Stokes said he had no input into editorial decisions at SWM.
Chaney said she had not changed her positions on live exports or the North West Shelf.
“I voted in support of WA farmers to keep the sheep and nothing has changed,” she said.
“We need gas for our energy transition, but any new projects need to stack up financially and environmentally, especially if they would result in 50 years’ of emissions.”
At 1.3 per cent, Curtin is one of the most marginal seats in WA.
The Liberals have pumped significant effort and resources into their candidate, former Uber executive Tom White, to wrest back control.
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