Tony Abbott furious at Labor over Woodside 70th anniversary ‘snub’

Madeleine King missed Woodside’s 70th birthday party because she was on leave, while Tony Abbott claimed she and Anthony Albanese avoided the celebration out of deference to the climate lobby.

Resources Minister Madeleine King. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Resources Minister Madeleine King missed Woodside’s 70th birthday party on Saturday because she was on leave, while Tony Abbott claimed she and Anthony Albanese avoided the celebration out of deference to the climate lobby.

Ms King, a West Australian, was among 50,000 footy fans at Perth’s Optus Stadium to watch Geelong defeat Fremantle on Saturday afternoon. The match finished before the 70th anniversary celebrations for gas producer Woodside began less than a kilometre away at Crown.

“Minister King was unable to attend as she was on leave.“ a spokesperson for Ms King told The Australian on Monday.

“Minister King is a strong supporter of Western Australian gas producers, including Woodside, for the energy security they provide to WA and our regional partners.

“No member of the federal opposition attended the event.”

Mr Abbott is highly critical of Labor for not sending any federal MP to the event honouring the global energy company.

“Since Woodside started operating on the North West Shelf off WA four decades back, it’s paid more than $40bn in federal royalties alone,” Mr Abbott writes in The Australian on Tuesday.

“Yet the only current Labor MP who could be bothered to turn up to this celebration of our country’s success was the WA energy and climate change minister who got a leave pass to go where no senior Labor politician can tread lest that offend the party’s green left activists and potential Greens coalition partners.”

Anthony Albanese had been in Perth on Thursday and Friday last week. Ms King did not attend any of his WA events as she was on leave then too.

After the Prime Minister’s events in Perth on Thursday and Friday, he flew to the east coast. He then went to Adelaide for an announcement about the $15.4bn North South Corridor with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas on Sunday morning.

The opposition was unrepresented because opposition leader Peter Dutton had a prior commitment in Mt Isa. West Australian senator Dean Smith planned to attend as Mr Dutton’s representative but he was injured when he slipped on steps on Saturday morning.

WA Energy Minister Reece Whitby represented the Cook Labor government at the gala. That is because Premier Roger Cook was in the Pilbara on Saturday on a three-day trip to the iron ore and gas capital of Australia. Mr Cook held a community cabinet in the iron ore town of Newman in the east Pilbara on Saturday and another in Karratha.

While Mr Cook did not attend the Woodside gala, he participated in a recent Sky News documentary marking Woodside’s anniversary.