Australian federal election 2025: Teal candidate Kate Hulett promises to fight AUKUS deal

The federal seat of Fremantle is home to the shipyards that stand to attract more than $10bn of investment under AUKUS but teal candidate says she will oppose the ‘crazy’ deal.

Teal independent candidate for Fremantle Kate Hulett on the campaign trail. Picture: NewsWire / Sharon Smith

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The teal candidate targeting the safe Labor seat of Fremantle says she will oppose the “crazy” AUKUS deal that promises to ­deliver thousands of jobs to the electorate.

Kate Hulett on Monday morning confirmed she would look to end Labor’s 94-year stranglehold on Fremantle at the federal election, days after she narrowly missed out on defeating Cook government minister Simone McGurk in the state seat of the same name.

She said if elected, she would voice her objections to the AUKUS deal and the approval of large-scale gas projects such as Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, and would support the sort of tougher environmental regulations proposed under Labor’s since-abandoned Nature Positive reforms.

The federal seat of Fremantle takes in a much larger geographic footprint, and has a much more diverse demographic mix, than the inner-city state seat previously targeted by Ms Hulett.

The seat also includes Henderson, where more than $10bn will be spent developing and expanding shipyards and maintenance facilities as part of the AUKUS program. That work has been tipped to create thousands of jobs and make defence Western Australia’s second-largest industry behind mining.

Flanked by supporters, Ms Hulett said strong feedback from the Fremantle community suggested they were opposed to the program. “I think probably everyone standing here thinks that AUKUS is a crazy deal: $368bn going to a president who doesn’t know what AUKUS is for a return of nothing, and we all know we could spend that money far better,” she said.

“This is a crazy deal, and we do not want to be made a target in our beautiful state.”

Independent Kate Hulett with supporters in Fremantle. Picture: Colin Murty

Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court was a big backer of Ms Hulett’s state campaign, with his $50,000 contribution representing the group’s largest single donation to an independent candidate in the WA election.

Ms Hulett – who met Mr Holmes a Court for the first time last week – said she had received donations from hundreds of supporters in recent months.

“What we are hearing over and again is that the two major parties are not offering anything different. They are effectively becoming one,” she said. “What we’ve demonstrated is if you have a serious candidate offering people a real voice, they will vote for it.”

Fremantle is currently held by Labor Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson on a margin of more than 16 per cent. Ms Hulett secured a swing of more than 26 per cent from Labor in the state election earlier this month, but fell just a few hundred votes short.

While traditional Labor voters at the state election were able to cast their votes in Fremantle knowing that Labor was effectively assured of forming government, current polling suggests a much closer battle between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.

Mr Wilson said he was looking forward to campaigning on the basis of his principles, values, work ethic, and record.

“People know me as someone who stands up and delivers results, including on issues that matter to Fremantle like ocean protection, Australian manufacturing from shipbuilding to filmmaking, and of course the sensible transition out of the live sheep trade,” Mr Wilson said.

“This is going to be a close election at which people in Fremantle and Cockburn will choose between a Labor government that has maintained a strong economy in tough times while creating a cleaner and cheaper energy ­future, or a Coalition government whose plans are to go nuclear by wrecking the budget and cutting services to pay for it.”