Perth Voice Interactive

INDEPENDENT Kate Hulett has announced a run in the upcoming federal election to try and unseat Labor’s Josh Wilson just weeks after her narrow defeated at the state election. 

At a press conference this week, Ms Hulett denied her potential election could hand the Coalition a majority government in what is already shaping up as a tight race. 

“I think it would be better to have a voice in parliament that is representative of the people than another Labor voice,” she said. 

“This year is a once in every 12 years kind of moment where the federal and state elections coincide in the same year, and we feel as a community that we are going to capitalise on that and take this movement forward into Canberra.” 

Ms Hulett says Climate 200, which contributed $50,000 to her state election campaign, is “generally aware” of her announcement but that she does not align herself as a Teal independent. 

“So far, there’s no funding allocated [from Climate 200],” she said. 

Ms Hulett didn’t launch a specific policy plan, but continued her tagline of “climate, people, integrity” and took aim at US president Donald Trump and his attitude towards the AUKUS submarine deal. 

“We’ve got gas projects being signed off, we’ve got environmental laws being overturned as a coalition of the Liberal and Labor parties,” Ms Hulett said. 

“AUKUS is a crazy deal of $368 billion going to a president who doesn’t know what it is, for the return of nothing, and we all know that we could spend that money far better. 

“Those decisions are not representative of our communities, and we’ve just shown that in the [state] election.” 

Ms Hulett doesn’t believe her anti-AUKUS, pro-environment stances could potentially deter voters in the wider Fremantle electorate, which encompasses much of Cockburn and Henderson and is larger than the state electorate. 

“We are united far more than we are separated individually, and I think rather than pigeon-holing people [like] they’re a tradie, so they don’t like the environment… we can find common ground on all sorts of areas,” Ms Hulett said. 

“Yes, jobs are fundamental to all of us, [but] if we’re making jobs at the expense of not having anything returned for the money, it’s not worth it. 

“Yes, many people work in resources, and we do need resources, so I’m not anti-resources, I guess we need to look at best outcomes for all of us and that might mean transitioning jobs training people up and giving them security in the future.” 

Labor’s Josh Wilson was quick out of the blocks, announcing  he was running for re-election within a couple of hours of Ms Hulett’s announcement, though that wasn’t mentioned in his statement to the Herald. 

“This is going to be a close election at which people in Fremantle and Cockburn will choose between a Labor government that has maintained a strong economy in tough times while creating a cleaner and cheaper energy future, or a Coalition government whose plans are to go nuclear by wrecking the budget and cutting services to pay for it,” Mr Wilson said.

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER