Although the high cost of living is set to dominate the state election campaign, climate action is becoming a key issue in some seats targeted by the Greens and teal-style independents. Fremantle is one electorate where hundreds of volunteers are taking part in grassroots campaigns, questioning whether enough is being done to reduce carbon emissions.
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00:00Let's do this.
00:04Fremantle community independent Kate Hewlett only decided to run on New Year's Eve, but
00:10the small business owners already got more than 300 volunteers offering to help build
00:15her brand.
00:16When someone has a slogan that is about integrity, about people, about climate, I'm going to
00:23be interested.
00:24I'll take one of those, excellent.
00:26Fremantle's one of five state lower house seats being targeted by so-called teal independents,
00:32offering community representation over party politics and more action to address climate
00:37change.
00:38Analysts believe the independents could hamper the Liberals' efforts to win back seats lost
00:43in last election's Labour landslide, whilst also potentially cutting into Labour's vote
00:49in left-leaning seats like Fremantle.
00:52The major parties haven't gone really aggressive on dealing with climate change, and in some
01:00of these electorates I think there's an appetite for that.
01:03Fremantle is considered a safe Labour seat held by Minister Simone McGurk.
01:07For those who haven't come to a door knock before, I'll quickly do a little run through
01:11of what we're expecting out of this.
01:12But it's also being fiercely contested by the Greens, who've held it before, albeit
01:16briefly, in 2009.
01:20Voters have door knocked over 5,000 homes since September, promising to ban fracking,
01:25many of them also unhappy with Labour's approval of a 50-year extension of the North West Shelf
01:31gas project.
01:32The whole argument for giving gas to the developing world, like gas is still a fossil fuel.
01:37Yes, welcome to the Fremantle door knock.
01:39But Labour voters, helping out with the ground campaign, say cost of living and housing seem
01:44to be the priority for voters.
01:47Labour has consistently defended the role of gas as an important transition fuel towards
01:52decarbonisation.
01:54Its volunteers believe it's striking the right balance on the environment.
01:58Things like the transition away from coal down south, and then also the reduction of
02:05plastic that the state government's been doing.
02:08Whatever happens in Fremantle, analysts say the next parliament, especially the upper
02:12house, is likely to look very different.
02:15The new parliament is very likely to be much more diverse and have a smattering of different
02:19parties.
02:20The Liberals are yet to announce a candidate for Fremantle.
02:23In the meantime, everyone seems to agree on the value of old school, face-to-face campaigning.