Australia's mining state is tone-deaf on climate action, an activist-musician has told a clean energy summit.
WA Premier Roger Cook returned to the Global Citizen Now conference in Perth on Tuesday to spruik his government's renewable credentials.
But rocker John Butler was having none of it as he craftily employed a songwriting analogy to slam the WA government's policies.
"The lyrics and melody, the chords and rhythm - they don't match," he said.
"They don't support each other like they should when a good song is working."
Butler said the Cook government said it wanted the state to reduce emissions to zero and transition to renewable energy and industries, but backed multiple fossil fuel projects.
"All these chords that are meant to go with the hopeful lyrics are all ticking carbon bombs, not the rhythm I want to dance to," he said.
The two-day WA government-backed summit has heard from dozens of experts about the need for clean energy and global development ahead of November's COP31 meeting in Turkey.
During his second visit in two days, Mr Cook joined Global Citizen co-founder Michael Sheldrick for an impromptu question-and-answer session.
"One of the observations you (Michael Sheldrick) made was 'why are we doing this, there's a lot of people on the stage criticising your government?'," Mr Cook said.
"I want that ... I want everyone to bring their version about what the clean energy transition looks like, and we can work together."
Mr Cook pulled out his own analogy, likening the conversations about the state's future to a journey that wouldn't be smooth or linear.
"But it's a pathway that we must all commit ourselves to," he said.
Butler was scathing about "the revolving door" between government and industry.
"We have politicians leaving office and rolling straight into the highest-paying jobs in the very industries and sectors that they were just regulating," he said.
"These very same corporations then try to buy social license by purchasing advertising space across the chests and backs of our most beloved football teams ... hanging banners across schools and arts festivals.
"It's kind of predatory. It's kind of parasitic. It's creepy, frankly."
