WA election 2025: Fremantle teal independent Kate Hulett expresses support for illegal anti-gas protests

The independent candidate challenging Labor Minister Simone McGurk for the State seat of Fremantle has declared her support for illegal protest activity, as she pocketed an extra $30,000 from Climate 200. Kate Hulett insisted there were no strings attached to the group’s donations that total $50,000. She denied being a “Disrupt Burrup Hub” candidate but has been photographed wearing a “Disrupt Burrup Hub” shirt and pledged support to their campaign against Woodside’s proposal to extend the life of their Pilbara gas plant until 2070. “I believe we should stop any gas expansion and reduce it,” Ms Hulett said. “I think the Disrupt Burrup Hub people are incredibly brave.” Ms Hulett’s campaign advisor Jesse Noakes was one of three activists fined last week, for trespass and criminal damage outside Woodside boss Meg O’Neill’s home in City Beach. Asked whether she condoned illegal protest activity, Ms Hulett replied: “Yeah I do. I think it’s really important to allow people to protest without hurting anyone in order to bring these matters to light.” She has accused the Liberal party of doing a “dirty deal” to preference Ms McGurk ahead of herself and the Greens, in return for Labor preferencing the Liberals in other key seats. “They’re very worried about an independent candidate having the opportunity to take this very strong, safe Labor seat off their hands,” Ms Hullet said. The Liberal Party has denied any preference swap. But in the battleground seat of Mid-West, Labor has preferenced Liberal candidate Merome Beard ahead of Nationals leader Shane Love. In Kalgoorlie, another key regional seat, Labor has preferenced the Liberal party ahead of the Nationals and former Liberal-turned-independent Kyran O’Donnell. In Fremantle, Ms McGurk conceded the Albanese Government’s back flip on nature positive laws and a grassroots campaign to ban fracking had rallied support against her. She retained the seat in 2021 with 57 per cent of first preference votes, ahead of the Greens. “I’ll give it to the voters of Fremantle, they’re informed, they’re educated. They certainly put me through my paces,” she said last week. “But they understand that a Government needs to be in office in order to make these changes for the environment and many of them actually work in the resources sector.” Ms Hulett described Labor’s vow to turn WA into a renewable energy powerhouse as a farce. “They’re talking, talking, talking, what action have we seen?” she said. “We’re the only State without a legislated emissions reduction target, we don’t have a tree canopy.”