Punch hits back at petition, claims WA Liberals’ real target is his Bunbury seat
Embattled minister Don Punch has accused Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas of “exploiting vulnerable Aboriginal people” to score political goals in response to a petition demanding the Bunbury MP’s resignation from cabinet.
It follows a series of reports in The Australian revealed more than a dozen children were living unsupervised and in squalor in South Hedland, prompting an investigation by WA’s top child protection worker.
There were also growing calls for the WA government to order a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of three children at the hands of their mother in Port Hedland in 2022, which Attorney General Tony Buti insisted could not be done until new evidence came to light – which it eventually did, and an inquest was subsequently ordered.
Zempilas said it had taken until Monday for Punch to visit Hedland in response to the reports and inquest calls, and also criticised Punch’s parliamentary attendance record.
“I went to South Hedland, visited Frisby Court, spoke to the elders and witnessed first-hand a community desperate for leadership and answers,” Zempilas said.
“Don Punch has missed two of the four parliamentary sitting weeks since this crisis erupted. He has also been absent from one-in-five Question Times in the past 12 months.
