WA Labor really doesn’t care

This Telethon weekend, Roger Cook should think of the children.

WA Labor really doesn’t care
Telethon mascot Fat Cat with WA Premier Roger Cook. Credit: Facebook, Roger Cook.

For Western Australians, it’s the most magical weekend of the year – like Christmas, a school eisteddfod, an oil and gas conference, and a telemarketing call all rolled into one.

I’m talking about Telethon, Channel 7’s annual fundraiser for kids’ health initiatives – and the highest fundraising event of its kind in the world.

Last night, as ordinary folk huddled around their TV sets to watch Home and Away heartthrobs take their shirts off (at least, I presume that’s still what happens on the live broadcast – I haven’t watched in years), Seven West chairman and mining billionaire Kerry Stokes gathered the business and political elite at the annual Telethon ball (as is tradition). There in black-tie to pay their dues were: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition leader Peter Dutton, Premier Roger Cook, Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill, Woodside Chair Richard Goyder, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson, and more. Naturally, Stokes’s number one man and Liberal candidate for Churchlands Basil Zempilas served as MC.

Among the items up for auction was lunch for six with Roger Cook at the Leeuwin Estate (helicopter flights included), which was sold to former iron ore boss and current property developer Tony Poli. How generous of the Premier to meet with power players in exchange for charitable rather than political donations.

It appears Roger Cook cares about sick kids, but this week proved his WA Labor government really doesn’t care about climate and environment – and they’re betting that voters don’t either.

On Tuesday, Environment Minister Reece Whitby announced the WA government would no longer assess big projects for their greenhouse gas emissions – which will now only be considered by the weaker federal safeguard mechanism regime.

As you’d imagine, Woodside was delighted, given the company wants to expand and extend its massively polluting Burrup Hub facilities. “Theoretically, it is eminently sensible to have the Commonwealth, which has signed up for these commitments internationally, to have accountability,” CEO Meg O’Neill told the Financial Review. (The “theoretically” there is telling.) She called on other state governments to follow suit.

Then, on Thursday, the WA government passed laws to further gut the EPA, including through removing an appeals process and speeding up approvals from other government agencies while the EPA makes its determinations. Roger Cook said the legislation would “slash green tape”, but his own backbench MP Chris Tallentire had previously called the changes “an industry wish list”.

WA was already the only state to have rising emissions and no emissions reduction target. Now, the WA government has proven there’s no end to how far it’s willing to go to appease big gas. Anyone still holding hope WA Labor will do anything for the climate is beyond deluded. Roger Cook is in his climate villain era, and seems to be relishing the role.

On this special weekend, someone should remind him that the climate crisis is already causing health problems for Western Australians. Oil and gas execs can raise as much money for Telethon as they want – it’s not going to stop climate chaos from impacting the lives of West Aussie kids for generations to come.