Woodside dinner: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton snub 70-year celebration, put commitment to WA in question

Not a single Federal Labor politician went to an event celebrating one of our State’s biggest exporters and employers, despite Anthony Albanese just days ago declaring his commitment to Western Australia and the resources sector. Woodside held its 70th birthday at Crown on Saturday night, an event attended by two former prime ministers — Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison — and three former West Australian premiers — Mark McGowan, Colin Barnett and Richard Court. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King, who also didn’t attend, was just around the corner at Optus Stadium watching her beloved Fremantle Dockers get thumped by Geelong. Ironically the Dockers are sponsored by Woodside. The game finished more than an hour before the Woodside event, held to honour its decades-long commitment to WA and the year the company was first incorporated in 1954. Ms King’s office said she was on leave but she had attended the game “to be gutted by the Fremantle loss” with friends who were visiting from Melbourne. “The minister is a strong supporter of Woodside for the energy security it provides to Western Australia and the region,” the minister’s spokesman said. Premier Roger Cook was also absent from the formal dinner. WA Energy, Environment and Climate Minister Reece Whitby is understood to have been the only representative of any government who joined the dinner. He delivered a speech on behalf of the Premier. “On behalf of the State Government, I congratulate Woodside on 70 years and I look forward to the decades ahead ... the 100th anniversary — imagine, imagine that night,” he said. “If we’re really, really lucky, Woodside might even be able to celebrate with its sponsorship partner, the Fremantle Dockers finally getting a premiership!” Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also sent his apologies to Woodside — which employs about 4500 people and is headquartered in Perth and is chaired by one of WA’s top business leaders in Richard Goyder — after failing to attend the event. Mr Dutton had intended to send a representative to the dinner but they were a late cancellation for personal reasons. The absence of a single Federal politician at the celebration came just one day after Mr Albanese talked up the importance of people from the “Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra triangle” travelling west to get a sense of the State for themselves. Mr Albanese spent part of Thursday and Friday last week in WA and announced he would return within a month for a four-day trip bringing his entire ministry. “You have to spend time here. You have to engage here. You have to develop relationships here with business, with political leaders, with the community. It’s a great State,” he told reporters. “I’ve been to WA more times than the previous three prime ministers combined in the Liberal Government.” Asked directly whether his Government supported Woodside’s Browse project, after reports WA’s environmental agency was considering rejecting it, Mr Albanese said he backed the resources sector while recognising approval processes had to be worked through. “We of course need job security. We of course need energy reliability. And we need to make sure it’s done in a way that protects our environment,” he said. “That’s the objective that I’m sure that we share with the Cook Government here.” Mr Albanese said everyone needed to experience WA’s north to get an understanding of the resources industry. “You have to see one of those trains where you can see the front of the train but you can’t see the end of it,” he said. “You have to see the scale. You have to talk with the workforce about the experience of being FIFOs or about the growth that I’ve seen in a town like Karratha.” Mr Whitby declined to comment on the Browse approvals at a press conference on Sunday, saying as the decision-maker it would not be appropriate for him to do so until the regulator had finished its process. Mr Albanese was in Adelaide early on Sunday morning announcing the next stage in a $15.4 billion road project — one of the largest infrastructure builds under way in the country — before returning to Canberra for Parliament’s first post-winter break sitting. Mr Dutton spent almost five days in WA over the previous weekend. This included a daytrip to Broome, during which he did not make a public appearance, and attending part of the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie. He said the Coalition “will be a Government that strongly supports mining in WA” and reiterated a promise to cut approval timeframes for new projects. Mr Albanese will be back in Western Australia next month. He used his trip last week to confirm that he was bringing his entire ministry to the State on September 2.