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Cambridge Claremont/Nedlands Cottesloe/Mosman subiaco
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I QUIT! 27 JUNE 2026 | VOL .53 NO.26
By BRET CHRISTIAN
Jonathan Huston has resigned from the Liberal Party.
All in blue … Jonathan Huston campaigning as a Liberal candidate for the state seat of Nedlands in March 2025.
The first-term MP was elected as the Liberal member for the seat of Nedlands, which includes the Subiaco area and part of Floreat, in March last year but will quit to become an independent. He told the POST he would not join another party and would contest the next election as an independent. He said he had no axe to grind with his former leader, Basil Zempilas. “There’s never been any malice,” he said. “I’ve maintained excellent personal relationships with him.” But shadow treasurer and Cottesloe MP Sandra Brewer unloaded on her now-independent neighbour, accusing him of betraying western suburbs voters. “ M r H u s t o n ’s d e c i s i o n breaks the trust of the people of Nedlands and those that backed him to represent the WA Liberals,” she said. Mr Huston will continue to sit in Parliament, saying he wants to work on big picture projects, including increasing royalties from the state’s mineral and energy resources. He wants to build a sovereign
wealth fund to fund schools and hospitals, and eliminate payroll tax to help businesses. “There’s not a lack of money in WA, the money’s just been misallocated,” Mr Huston said. Other countries with natural resources, plus the US state of Alaska, have created sovereign wealth funds for the benefit of their citizens, he said.
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I’ll contest the next election as an independent
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He wants to gradually increase royalties until 2035, and to impose royalties on new giant gas fields where no royalties are charged. This puts him at odds with the Liberal Party, under whose flag he stood for election. Mr Zempilas said the party had no intention of raising mineral royalties. “Jonathan wants to head in a policy direction that does not align with the WA Parliamentary Liberal Party,” he said. Mr Huston’s resignation echoes his predecessors Tom Dadour (when the seat was called Subiaco) and Sue Walker,
who both quit as Liberals to become independents. His departure represents a substantial loss of experience from the Opposition frontbench. A former major in army intelligence, he angered some in his party by publicly arguing against the AUKUS deal last year. He headed several successful companies, including Croissant Express and Tint-A-Car, after leaving the military. He was shadow minister for deregulation, small business, public sector reform and veterans before his decision to quit. He told the POST he wanted to increase the state’s income by leveraging the vast international hunger for decarbonisation, which he said needed WA’s resources. “Western Australia is one of the wealthiest places on Earth,” he said. “Yet here there is an unfair distribution of wealth.” He said many of the fundamental pressures facing WA families had become worse despite the state’s economic boom. He also wanted to see a fairer distribution of federal funds. “In particular defence, roads, education, rail and water, and • Please turn to page 77
Subi ready to swoop on bird flu By JEN REWELL Subiaco will be keeping an extra close eye on black swans and ducks in the City’s lakes as they try to get on the front foot of the deadly avian influenza H5N1.
City rangers will increase environmental audits of lakes, focusing on high-risk species such as ducks and swans. New signs will be erected soon advising residents not to touch affected creatures and encouraging reporting of sick animals to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline and Wildcare Helpline. Meanwhile, state Minister for Agriculture Jackie Jarvis said one option to prevent a wipe-out of “high value” species would be to create a type of Noah’s Ark. “I want to be really clear: We will not be using vaccines on a large scale for wildlife, it’s just simply not possible,” Ms Jarvis said. “There are certainly plans in place, whether it’s a black swan or little penguins or other birds that are of high value to Western Australians … that we
Parks officer Morgan Stonely will be trained to detect bird flu in local wildlife. Photo: Jack Maddern have colonies that we protect in a sanctuary zone, but we’re certainly not there yet. She reassured the community the preparations to deal with the virus was well underway.
“We’ve had two years to prepare,” Ms Jarvis said. “The industry is prepared, we’ve done a lot of work with the community with wildlife carers, those people we knew would be at the front line, which is why we discovered it.” The isolation of the state’s black swans means they are less exposed to infectious bird diseases and genetically susceptible, according to Labor MLC Parwinder Kaur who, as an associate professor at UWA in 2023, published research on the susceptibility of black swans to avian flu. She said one way to save the swans would be to look for a natural gene variation and develop a strategic breeding program. “A more expensive path would be to develop immunotherapy treatments, such as we have developed for humans,” she said. Ms Jarvis warned the public not to go near or touch sicklooking or dead birds. Only veterinarians or trained biosecurity officers should handle them. • Please turn to page 77
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