The former upper house member for the now-abolished mining & pastoral region, two-term WA Labor backbencher Kyle McGinn was never one to go quietly.
The former upper house member for the now-abolished mining & pastoral region, two-term WA Labor backbencher Kyle McGinn was never one to go quietly.
Even his farewell speech prompted a rebuke from the president of the Legislative Council this year.
“The honourable member is very well aware that he ran a very fine line in offending the dignity of the council,” Alanna Clohesy said in response to an address that included the performative consumption of a ‘shoey’ on the floor of Parliament House in May.
“So, I assume his speech has now concluded.”
Aligned to the Maritime Union of Australia, Mr McGinn always marched closer to the beat of his affiliate union than the party to which he was elected in 2017.
That loyalty may well have meant Mr McGinn was more likely to break rank than other members of WA Labor: a juggernaut that famously requires its MPs to toe the party line.
A report in April revealed Mr McGinn had been lobbying in Washington, against his own government’s Westport plan on behalf of the Maritime Union of Australia.
The MUA’s concerns related to security, with Mr McGinn reported to have warned senior politicians in the US that the location of Westport near the Aukus base at HMAS Stirling could have dangerous consequences.
Premier Roger Cook dismissed the news at the time, noting his belief that Mr McGinn was wrong and pointing out that he was leaving parliament after being preselected in an unwinnable position.
But an assessment this month of Mr McGinn’s claims by The Institute for Integrated Economic Research – Australia suggested there was some weight to the claims.
The report was authored by retired air vice-marshal John Blackburn – the former deputy chief of the Royal Australian Air Force – and ex HMAS Stirling commanding officer Vince Di Pietro.
It flagged a series of concerns over the prospect that the state’s main shipping container route – facilitating commercial, foreign-owned ships – would cross close to a base of strategic importance to Australia and its allies.
The emergence of containerised weapon systems this year – used by both Israel and Ukraine in their respective conflicts – were said to demonstrate a “shift towards covert and asymmetric drone warfare” around the world.
That could cause issues with a container port in such close proximity to a critical base, according to the report’s authors, who also flagged the potential for commercial traffic to block access in and out of HMAS Stirling.
“Clearly there are serious questions that need to be addressed with respect to the risks and vulnerabilities for both Defence and the Western Australian population resulting from the collocation of a nuclear submarine base, import ports, a narrow channel and large numbers of foreign flagged commercial ships,” the report said.
The report’s authors reserved a clip for Mr Cook for what they labelled “a simplistic statement by a likely unaware WA premier” in response to Mr McGinn’s Washington lobbying.
“Simply stating that the concerns raised with respect to the Cockburn Sound by a local politician and the MUA are ‘wrong’ seems somewhat foolhardy. Perhaps a case of opportunistic ignorance?” they posed.
After the report’s release, Mr Cook told media the government was working with stakeholders to mitigate any risks.
“We continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that Westport, the Henderson precinct, HMAS Stirling and other users of Cockburn Sound can all work together to ensure that it’s safe and sustainable,” he said.
It remains to be seen whether the observations of Mr McGinn and the retired Defence personnel behind the report present as big an issue as has been suggested.
But the area south of Perth is sure to be a point of regular rhetoric in the years and decades ahead.
• The reporter is no relation to former Labor MLC Kyle McGinn
