Liberal preferences may help elect Climate 200-backed independent in Fremantle who vows to end gas
Peter Dutton, who vowed to be the "best friend the gas industry has ever had", allowed the Liberal Party to preference ahead of Labor a Fremantle independent who says she will use her potential seat in parliament to fight WA's North West Shelf expansion and ban new gas.
Climate 200-backed Kate Hulett, who told The West Australian newspaper on Monday that she would be "raging" against the Woodside expansion slated for federal approval at the end of May, is ahead in a tight preference count that could unseat Labor's assistant climate minister, Josh Wilson.
The stunning preference decision exacerbates the Coalition's disastrous 2025 campaign, which kicked off with Mr Dutton's cornerstone promise to announce an interventionist gas reservation policy that shocked the industry and triggered warnings of future supply shortages.
The Liberals are understood to have backed Ms Hulett ahead of Mr Wilson because they believed another independent would deny Labor a majority.
Fremantle has emerged as one of just a handful of potential setbacks for Labor, which was returned for a second term after a nationwide landslide.
WA has also remained one of the government's strongest states, where it gained a 0.5 per cent swing.
The AEC's official count showed Ms Hulett on Tuesday morning had a 541-vote lead over Mr Wilson, who garnered 39.4 per cent of the primary vote after suffering a nearly 5 per cent anti-Labor swing.
Ms Hulett came in second, with 23.3 per cent of the vote, followed by Liberal candidate Tait Marston with 18.6 per cent.
Mr Marston told his Liberal supporters to put the climate action independent in third place, behind Pauline Hanson's One Nation and ahead of Labor's Mr Wilson in fourth.
Josh Wilson is the Labor member for Fremantle.
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ABC News: Matt Roberts
)
WA independent would rail against gas projects
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly emphasised the role of gas in Australia's energy transition, and is supportive of new projects as the country shifts away from coal-fired generation towards renewables.
Resources Minister Madeleine King, the most senior WA federal cabinet minister, was scathing of the Liberal Party preference deal with Ms Hulett, who is being supported by media and communications adviser Jesse Noakes, who was fined for trespassing on Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill's Perth home in 2023.
"The Coalition chose to preference an anti-gas activist in the seat of Fremantle, whose campaign employed an individual who has pleaded guilty to trespassing and damaging the home of a prominent WA business leader," Ms King told the ABC.
"The Coalition also announced sweeping gas policy changes on the fly with no detail and no consultation, sidelining both the shadow minister for resources and the gas industry.
"This only proves that Peter Dutton and the Coalition were simply not ready to campaign and were not ready for government".
Just before the election was called in late March, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek postponed until May 30 a final decision on whether to approve the 50-year Woodside LNG expansion, following state approvals in December.
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Gas industry lobby Australian Energy Producers CEO Samantha McCulloch said the North West Shelf project was "critical" for WA's long-term energy security and economic prosperity.
"After six years of environmental assessment and having secured state government approval, there is simply no justification for further regulatory delays to the NWS extension," she said.
Mr Noakes told the ABC the tight Fremantle vote count was almost a "rinse and repeat" copy of the March state election, which saw Labor narrowly fend off a state teal independent challenge.
"The only difference this time, honestly, is the Liberal preferences," he said.
"We were beaten by 400 votes last time when they preferenced Labor as part of a state-wide deal. This time they are not. Labor was asleep at the wheel.
"They tried very hard ahead of the state election to ensure Liberals exchanged preferences.
"
They did not appear to expend the same energy and capital on Fremantle for the federal campaign. And here we are.
"
Mr Noakes, who said he was a volunteer on the Fremantle campaign, added that Ms Hulett shared common ground with the Coalition, chiefly on ensuring a gas reservation that pushed more energy extracted by "foreign multinationals" into the domestic market.
He said her potential election "says a lot about what Labor can expect if they continue to take the mandate they've been [given] on climate and environment for granted".
Ms Hulett said on Sunday that her team "campaigned hard on the North West Shelf, on AUKUS and on real solutions to the housing crisis, and people went for it in droves".
Calls and text messages from the ABC to Mr Marston were not returned in time for deadline.
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