A renewable energy target at last, getting ready for a hot summer, safer streets and holding Labor to account
By Hon Dr Brad Pettitt MLC
The past couple of months have been some of the busiest of the year. After I asked for one nearly 50 times in Parliament, WA finally has a renewable energy target. There’s still plenty of unfinished business, from billions in unspent grid money to cyclists dying on our roads, so we’re keeping the pressure on.
Four wins in four days for clean energy
In the last week of October, WA committed to 75 per cent renewables by 2031. The Greens have been calling for a target for more than a decade. Huge credit goes to the Minister and to everyone in the sector who worked so hard to get us here.
Three more wins came in the same few days. WA will become the first state to legalise plug-in balcony solar. The Government estimates it will save renters and apartment dwellers around $240 a year, or up to $500 with a battery. Commercial and industrial rooftops are finally getting the incentives they need. A report we commissioned found only 13 per cent of that roof space was being used. Albany households will also get more support to go electric as the town’s gas network is phased out.
This has to be the first step on a longer journey. Outside the South West grid the rest of WA is lagging, which leaves our renewable share at half the national figure. The next step is a target for the whole state along with proper emissions reduction targets. There’s more to do, but we’re making inroads.
If you’re in the Great Southern, Jess Beckerling and I are hosting Electrify Kinjarling Albany at the Premier Hotel on Friday 27 November from 5.30pm.
Where’s the money?
The winter figures showed WA’s renewable share falling to 30.3 per cent while the eastern states passed 41.5 per cent for the first time. At the same time the Government spent $30 million on advertising to tell us the transition was going well. That money could have electrified Albany properly instead of moving 6,000 homes and businesses onto gas bottles.
In Parliament I asked how much of the $3 billion Rewiring the Nation deal, signed in 2023, has been spent. The Minister’s answer was that the financing “has not yet been issued”. The Pilbara’s grid still runs on less than 2 per cent renewables, so I took that story to ABC Pilbara.
EV charging is just as far behind. WA has about 125 electric vehicles for every public charger. The Australian average is about 40 and the world average is 11. When I asked about Horizon Power’s regional network, the Government told me every charger “remains available”. The next day I checked the map and found 13 of the 27 sites still offline or running below capacity. The state has just posted a $4.2 billion surplus, partly because it spent $571 million less than it budgeted. The money is there to fix this.
Getting ready for a hot summer
The Bureau of Meteorology gives Perth more than an 80 per cent chance of a hotter than usual summer. A WA Health study found heat-related deaths in Perth could rise by about 60 per cent by the 2050s. The Health Department’s own heat adaptation plan was due in 2024 and is still listed as “in progress”. When I asked how our hospitals are preparing, the Government pointed to existing plans and a phone check-in service. For a state as wealthy as ours, that response doesn’t match the size of the risk.
There are practical things we can do right now. Keep air-conditioned libraries open longer, improve access to pools in regional towns and protect the trees that cool our streets for free. Sixty-two per cent of West Australians with air conditioning say the cost stops them switching it on.
Trees matter here too. This month Nigel Satterley confirmed his company clears mature trees from residential streets in its estates. In White Gum Valley we built the streets around the big old trees and ended up with a cooler, greener suburb. The Government is reviewing its Liveable Neighbourhoods policy right now, and it should use that review to make developers keep large trees.
Safer streets and better transport
Six people have been killed riding bikes on WA roads this year, among them Joseph Paratore in Bibra Lake. My heart goes out to his family. Perth ranks 111th out of 120 cities worldwide for bike friendliness. At the current rate our cycle network will take around 100 years to finish. We need protected bike lanes we’d be comfortable letting a six-year-old ride in, funded across every suburb.
We did celebrate one little win. A year after we asked for cheap wheel-stop barriers so cars can’t park across a Principal Shared Path in Fremantle, they’ve finally gone in. Little wins come to those who agitate!
The new Walyalup Bridge is beautiful and finished ahead of schedule, with great paths and real recognition of Noongar heritage. Its new shared path still dead-ends at each end, though, so people on bikes have to cross busy truck routes. A huge crowd rallied to save Matilda Bay and to move the ferry terminal to the existing jetty at JoJo’s. I asked the Government to table KPMG’s Westport report and got an unrelated answer from the Legislative Assembly. Westport is a 2040s project at the earliest. The Government should say so, so that Fremantle Port and its workers can plan for the decades of life the port still has.
Planning and housing
Demolition has started on DevelopmentWA’s six unfinished townhouses in Hamilton Hill. More than $1.1 million of public money has gone into homes nobody ever lived in. It will cost another $150,000 to knock them down and around $4 million to build them again. None of the six are set aside for social or affordable housing.
There was good news in the Perth Hills. The State Administrative Tribunal rejected Satterley’s 1,001-lot North Stoneville plan over bushfire risk, a huge win for Save Perth Hills after more than 30 years of fighting. I also joined a Wilbinga documentary screening at Murdoch University alongside the Wilbinga Advocates and Hon Amanda Dorn MLC. We kept making the case for an urban growth boundary so Perth stops stretching north and south. For Fremantle Design Week, I led a walking tour of three Freo Alternative homes in Beaconsfield, which show how gentle density can work in our suburbs.
In the Parliament
The 42-year-old Equal Opportunity Act is finally getting its overhaul, with the bill now in the Lower House. The Law Reform Commission made 163 recommendations in 2022. We’ll work with the Government to make sure the bill protects everyone facing discrimination, harassment or victimisation.
The Upper House unanimously backed Jess Beckerling’s motion on men’s violence against women and children. In my speech I focused on stopping violence before it starts. That means respectful relationships education in every school and a behaviour change program for every man who uses violence, whether he’s in prison or in the community.
Jess and I also honoured Dee Margetts, a founding member of the Greens WA who served as a Senator and a Member of the Legislative Council. She was one of the people who inspired me to join the party. Vale Dee.
With only a handful of sitting weeks left, we’re still asking where the big bills are. WA is the last state without a ban on conversion practices. The second tranche of the illegal tobacco laws still hasn’t arrived, and stores closed in May are already reopening. There’s good news for wildlife, though. The Cat Amendment Bill has passed the Lower House, so councils will soon be able to bring in cat containment laws.
In the community
When One Nation’s new Member for Secret Harbour arrived for his first day, women were waiting on the front steps of Parliament for the Bro-test. Jess and I were proud to speak. He had said violence wasn’t an issue in his electorate. Men’s violence against women and children happens in every community in WA, and it is getting worse. Thank you to Megan McLeod for organising such a joyful and pointed protest.
Thousands of people marched peacefully from Yagan Square to Elizabeth Quay against the Land Forces weapons fair. Before the expo I called on the Government to guarantee a bed for every person sleeping rough who was moved out of the security zone. Sophie McNeill and I packed out the Kalamunda Hotel for a Politics in the Pub on taxing gas. I also joined the Walk for Reconciliation at Kaarta Koomba (Kings Park), which combined truth-telling with listening to Elders.
Thanks to everyone who came out, signed up and spoke up over the past two months.
Header Photo: Brad at the Frack Free Kimberly Rally at Parliament on 20th October.
