Newest teal Kate Hulett to rage against North West Shelf gas

The Climate 200-backed independent poised to end Labor’s 94-year hold on the seat of Fremantle says ‘raging’ against Woodside Energy’s $30bn North West Shelf gas project will be her key priority.

Fremantle teal candidate Kate Hulett. Picture: Natasja Kremers

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The Climate 200-backed independent poised to end Labor’s 94-year hold on the seat of Fremantle says “raging” against Woodside Energy’s $30bn North West Shelf gas project will be her key priority in Canberra.

Kate Hulett holds a 500-vote lead over Labor’s assistant minister for climate change and energy Josh Wilson, with the outcome likely to be known later this week.

Her potential win, and Kate Chaney’s triumph in the seat of Curtin, means there could be more independent MPs named Kate than Liberal MPs from metropolitan Perth following the Coalition’s dire result in the west.

Labor’s emphatic win nationally means it will not need to negotiate with the Greens and independents on the future of the North West Shelf, but Ms Hulett said the result in Fremantle should serve as a reminder of what can happen if Labor ignores concerns about the environment.

“I want to make sure that the North West Shelf extension, which is on the environment minister’s desk, is very closely scrutinised and the processes are followed to the T before any decisions are made,” Ms Hulett said.

“We heard over and over and over again, and nobody wants to be taken advantage of and be exploited by the gas industry, and that’s what the extension of the North West Shelf is. And it’s not good for any of us in any way. That is something that I will be raging about the most.”

Ms Hulett’s campaign focused on fighting against new oil and gas projects as well as the AUKUS nuclear submarine program.

The federal electorate of Fremantle is a key beneficiary of that program, given major investment promised in the Henderson precinct in the seat’s south.

Her opponent Mr Wilson has had reservations about AUKUS and has been a vocal advocate for the environment inside Labor.

But Ms Hulett said the party structure meant Mr Wilson had been unable to speak out and give voice to the community concerns within Fremantle.

Fremantle Labor MP Josh Wilson. Picture: NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The WA state government late last year gave its final approval for Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, and on Monday WA Premier Roger Cook said he expected to see the outstanding federal approvals granted swiftly now that the federal election was out of the way.

“I’m sure the Commonwealth will get to that issue very, very early on in the coming weeks,” Mr Cook said.

“I suspect work has been under way inside the department to continue that assessment process, and we’re expecting that to be concluded very shortly.”

Labor has not given up hope of retaining Fremantle, with prominent Labor MP Patrick Gorman on Monday saying he was “very confident” that Mr Wilson would close the gap to Ms Hulett.

Both the Greens and Liberals preferenced Ms Hulett ahead of Mr Wilson, but Mr Gorman said scrutineers had reported that many voters were ignoring those how-to-vote recommendations.

“We’re hearing that the preferences from people who might put one next to the Liberals or the Greens, they are flowing very strongly to Josh, because Josh has done the hard yards over years, and he’s a key part of our team,” Mr Gorman said.

“He’s a great mate of mine, and I’m very hopeful that I’ll be heading back to Canberra with him very soon.”

The close race in Fremantle is almost a re-run of the state election, in which Ms Hulett almost defeated Cook government minister Simone McGurk.