There is a good AFR article discussing Stokes' influence out West. It discusses the close ties and history between Stokes and Zempilas as well as McGowan, and the shady deal which granted Beach the export exemption (snippet below).
....The billionaires of Perth have a history of landing favourable arrangements with whichever party finds itself governing the state. Stokes, in recent years, especially so. In April 2020, the media mogul was named, along with Forrest, as the preferred candidates for a $218 million redevelopment of prime waterfront real estate known as East Perth Power Station. That was not surprising. What was, however, was a decision to potentially sell the property to the two billionaires for just $1 – especially since the state previously valued the land at $25.7 million....
...Budget papers later showed the McGowan government would tip in another $16.1 million to the project, on top of an initial $50 million contribution. Stokes’ ACE has since pulled out of the project amid the feud with Forrest. Last month, Forrest’s Tattarang was stripped of exclusive rights to develop and purchase the site. But the East Perth Power Station is just one of a string of McGowan government decisions that benefited Stokes’ personal and business interests. Most notably was an exemption granted to Stokes and his wife from hotel quarantine rules under medical grounds in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had been in the US at a time when all returning Australians were placed in quarantine. The Stokeses were given special dispensation to isolate in their Perth mansion....
...The West, meanwhile, was aggressive in its support of McGowan during the pandemic. McGowan put in place strict border controls and Stokes’ publication was in lockstep. In October 2020, it described McGowan as Captain Westralia. It also backed McGowan’s pursuit of another billionaire, Clive Palmer, who had challenged the state’s border restrictions in the High Court. A subsequent defamation matter between Palmer and McGowan, in March 2022, provided more detail about the close relationship between the WA premier and Stokes. “Kerry, we’ve just introduced legislation to block a claim by Clive Palmer against the state of WA for $28 billion. The claim was currently in arbitration and was based on two decisions [former premier] Colin Barnett made in 2012 and 2014,” McGowan wrote in one text message to Stokes on August 11, 2020, one minute before the legislation had its second reading in parliament. “The risk is too great ... obviously he won’t be happy. I’ll call to discuss.” “Mark, well done. I think no one else could have achieved that legislation in the speed you did. Reckon the insect heads should make a Telethon sales item. The people are with you,” Stokes wrote back three days later....
...Later that day, in his response to Stokes, McGowan wrote: “Thanks, Kerry. I was asked about those marvellous front pages today ... and I said ‘I think The West has gone a bit soft’.” “I appreciate the support enormously ... all the mealy-mouthed tut-tutting by some people about Palmer’s ‘rights’ makes me sick,” he added. McGowan later said he “rarely” contacted Stokes, and he could not “recall whether or not” he phoned the businessman in an attempt to influence coverage.
Days after the 2020 exchange of text messages between Stokes and McGowan, the WA government tightened its domestic gas reservation policy. The change would add limits on how much gas produced in the state could be exported overseas, or even to other states in Australia. It applied across the board, except to one group: Stokes-backed Beach Energy and its Japanese partner, Mitsui. Seven is Beach’s largest shareholder. “I’m not going into any private conversation I have about commercial matters,” McGowan said the following day. Under the policy, 15 per cent of offshore production and 100 per cent of onshore production are reserved for WA. Only half of the onshore gas produced at the Waitsia project in the Perth Basin, operated by Beach and Mitsui, would be reserved.
“Due to uncertainty at the time and exceptional economic circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Waitsia Gas Project Stage 2 in the Mid-West provided urgently needed jobs, royalties and economic stimulus for the region and the state,” McGowan’s spokesman said. “From 2029, all remaining Waitsia reserves will be made available to the domestic market. Industry figures – including Poynton, now chairman of rival Perth Basin producer Strike Energy – say they are “bemused” by the government’s gas policy. “Everyone is being very polite and accepting the government has a position on this, but we are continuing to request they review it because it just doesn’t seem right that you would have … a 50 per cent reservation policy for Beach and Mitsui onshore, and then you have 100 per cent reservation policy for everyone else,” Poynton told the Financial Review in January. “The decision did raise some eyebrows and concerns from some,” Credit Suisse energy analyst Saul Kavonic said. “I think, even to this day, other companies would also like to export gas and are not pleased, while the Waitsia project was allowed to export.”
Yeah... move on. Nothing to see here
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STX Price at posting:
45.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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