Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH MP John Carey has been given a reminder about parliamentary conduct after referring to the Nationals MP for the South West as Louise ‘Kill the Whales’ Kingston.

Mr Carey was speaking about the Cook government’s new policy on airbnb-style short-term rentals, which aims to free up housing for the longer-term rental market. It involves tighter regulations for unhosted short-term rentals which will now require local government approval, and a $10,000 incentive scheme for current short-stay landlords to convert their properties back to long-term rentals. 

Whaling

In Parliament on November 14 Mr Carey mentioned the plan was widely popular save for some criticism by a couple of Opposition members.

He said housing shadow minister Steve Martin was the first to attack the policy as a “short term shuffle”. 

“Then we have Louise ‘Kill the Whales’ Kingston,” Mr Carey said, referring to the Albany-born MP, who is an Upper House member and hence not around to hear the moniker.

Speaker Michelle Roberts interjected: “Minister, that was unparliamentary.” 

“I withdraw that.” Mr Carey said.

“That is not how you refer to a member of the Upper House,” Ms Roberts reminded Mr Carey.

The Kill the Whales nickname stemmed from Ms Kingston’s inaugural speech to Parliament on October 12.

Ms Kingston’s father worked as a whaler at the Cheyne Beach Whaling Station, and she said “when the whaling station closed in 1978, it was a very sad day for Albany and for the 102 workers who were given just six weeks to come to terms with a decision forced upon them without consideration”.

She said the decision had been made on “a lie – and a shift in conscientiousness based on feelings, not facts,” and it turned her into “a warrior for the truth, and one of my strongest convictions is speaking for those who are unheard and affected by decisions not based on fact”.

Labor’s been having a fine time squeezing every last drop out of Ms Kingston’s whaling comments, and Mr Carey’s jibe is about the 10th joke they’ve made about it so far. 

Labor’s Cockburn MP David Scaife had said in October that “it seems to me that Hon Louise Kingston and the Liberal and National Parties are focused only on bread and blubber issues”.

“You’ve just harpooned the argument,” Labor’s Mandurah MP David Templeman observed.

“I am having a whale of a time,” Mr Scaife confessed.

The Cheyne Beach Whaling Station took 1136 humpback whales and 14,695 sperm whales across its 26 years of operation.

by DAVID BELL