Secret Harbour could preview a broader One Nation showdown. But are voters getting what they want?

I drove down to Secret Harbour this week. Not to go to the beach (we’ve got those where I live in Fremantle), but to ask locals what they hope for in their lives and how they picture the future of Australia.

Secret Harbour is about to be the next by-election battleground featuring Pauline Hanson’s One Nation – but this time their opponent is the WA Labor government, potentially offering a preview of the next state and federal elections.

Unsurprisingly, at this stage, few people I spoke with knew who they would be voting for next month.

One guy stated that all politicians are on the take. While another suggested that people who vote for One Nation are idiots, a woman pushing a trolley full of groceries said she’d vote for One Nation, no matter which candidate they announce.

She just wanted a shake-up. I want a shake-up too. The thing is, I’m not sure that One Nation will deliver the kind of change that ordinary people are actually hoping for.

But then, Labor isn’t offering anything new either.

Recognising that the needs and wants of voters are not being addressed is precisely why I ran as an independent in Fremantle in 2025.

Since last year’s election, in spite of some extreme positions that are out of step with mainstream Australians, One Nation has successfully harnessed the sense that something isn’t right in this country, that the system doesn’t work for the Aussie battler, and that we’re being lied to and ripped off.

With this in mind, my eyes widened when I heard Labor had plucked their Secret Harbour candidate, Georgia Tree, straight from Woodside’s corporate headquarters.

She has worked there as a government relations advisor since switching from her previous role as a long-time staffer for federal Resources Minister Madeleine King – which means the government is playing right into One Nations hands, as was clear from the response.

Does Labor expect us to think they couldn’t find a local teacher, nurse, FIFO worker, or trade unionist to run?

Do they really think the best person to compete against their new opposition, One Nation, is someone who has spent their adult life bouncing between big government and big business? Talk about a revolving door.

The first thing Tree did after being revealed as Labor’s candidate was announce to media that she’s a pro-gas candidate.

Now, I’ve been described as anti-gas in my time, but I’m not against our resources industry. What I’m against is big gas corporations calling the shots in our government.

It’s one thing to work on the mines, or on a rig or at the plant – my partner worked FIFO, like almost everyone I grew up with in Perth’s northern suburbs.

But it’s quite another thing to sit in the corporate headquarters of a gas multinational lobbying the government to kill off a tax on gas exports that would make our country billions of dollars in revenue.

And, despite slapping its logo all over Western Australia like it owns the place, Woodside treats the people who live here with disdain.

It fought tooth and nail to stop its own workers unionising, and has a shocking safety record.

Woodside also makes billions in profit exporting our gas, but are the worst performing company when it comes to making sure West Australians have enough supply to keep the lights on.

While WA’s gas exporters are contracted to reserve 15 per cent of their offshore gas to power homes and businesses, Woodside’s Pluto project has provided just 3 per cent of this amount.

The rest is sold overseas to make mega profits, which ends up costing us when local gas and electricity prices surge.

While polling shows that two-thirds of West Australians support this tax, Woodside was one of the loudest voices trying to shut it down.

On this topic, it’s worth mentioning that Pauline Hanson also defied her own One Nation supporters (who strongly support it) and voted against this popular gas tax.

So it seems that we’re left with a situation where both Labor and One Nation – now bankrolled by Australia’s richest person – are working for the big end of town instead of everyday Australians.

The people of Secret Harbour deserve better than a choice between a party lobbying for a multinational gas corporation and another sponsored by a gas and mining billionaire.

The community will deliver their verdict on Labor’s decision to choose to be represented by a candidate from Woodside.

And in advance of the next elections, the time is ripe for WA communities to choose their own representatives who work for us, not for big business.

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