Opinion Piece | 18 December 2025
Lachlan Hunter MLA
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food
As 2025 finally limps to an end, many in regional WA are asking the same question. How did agriculture, one of our State’s great success stories, end up being treated like an inconvenience by the Cook Labor Government? The answer lies in what happened in March. While WA Labor scraped together a third term, regional voters delivered a very different verdict. From the South West to the Gascoyne, they planted the National Party firmly in the ground as the real voice of the regions. And yes, the result was as lopsided as it looked.
WA Labor responded to its regional wipe out not with policy or respect, but with theatre. Suddenly we had “regional Ministers”. Titles galore. But when I asked for their policy responsibilities, the Government tabled a document with blank spaces. Literally blank. You could not have scripted a better metaphor. This was not a Cabinet. It was a costume rack.
The problem runs deeper. Labor went to the March election with absolutely no agricultural policy. None. Zero. The second biggest industry in WA was given the same level of attention you give to a shopping list you left at home. Should we really be shocked that 2025 turned into a policy wasteland for agriculture? A government that never thinks about agriculture never accidentally delivers for it.
The rot began early when WA Labor refused to stand up to Canberra on shutting down the live sheep trade. We exposed that Minister Jarvis never held a single meeting with the Live Sheep Transition Advocate. Not one dollar was allocated. If this was meant to look like advocacy, it had all the impact of waving politely from across the street.
Meanwhile, when the mining industry had concerns about the Commonwealth’s nature positive laws, the Premier was on the phone to the Prime Minister faster than you can say iron ore royalties. The laws were shelved. Crisis averted. Suddenly, the Cook Government remembered how to fight for WA. Apparently, if you dig holes in the ground, you get treated like royalty. If you grow food, you get an auto reply email.
The consequences of this failure are already biting. Live export transition grants are oversubscribed by six times. Farmers are voting with their feet because the policy is impossible to work with. And the sheep flock has collapsed from more than twelve million in 2022 to just over eight million in mid-2025. A thirty per cent freefall. We had to drag the numbers out of the Minister like pulling teeth. Maybe transparency is another thing Labor forgot to write down before the election.
Then came the year’s biggest biosecurity blunder. On the morning of the State Budget, WA Labor waved the white flag on polyphagous shot hole borer. This pest is considered one of the most serious threats to Australian horticulture. But the Government gave up on eradication before lunchtime. If PSHB spreads into the regions, the fallout will make the Government’s racetrack obsession look like a hobby project.
Regional families also received a charming reminder of their place in the pecking order during the orange school bus debacle. Evergreen contracts torn up. Operators left stranded. Parents told to figure it out themselves. Meanwhile in Perth, the Deputy Premier proudly announced a Surf Cat bus every ten minutes to whisk city residents to the beach with their surfboards. In the regions, apparently the message is simple. Quit your job and drive your kids to school. Equity, Labor style.
And then there is the WA rail freight buy back. Remember that grand announcement a few weeks before the election? Well, nearly a year later, we are still waiting. No detail, no costings, no plan. ARC is in the dark. Growers are in the dark. The only thing moving on the freight network is tumbleweed.
Yet despite all of this, Western Australia is set to deliver one of the biggest grain harvests in our history. Our producers, researchers, growers and farm workers continue to do extraordinary things under extraordinary pressure. They show resilience, innovation and grit. They do not need slogans. They need a government that actually turns up.
Agriculture is the backbone of regional communities and one of WA’s greatest economic strengths. It deserves leadership, not neglect. It deserves Ministers with policies, not titles printed on blank pages.
As Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food, I intend to make sure agriculture stays front and centre in 2026. Labor may grow tired of hearing from us, but we will not stop fighting for the industries and communities that keep this State running.
WA agriculture deserves much better than being treated as the afterthought of a government that cannot tell a ewe from a policy review. And it will get better when we have leadership that values farmers as much as photo opportunities. Regional WA will continue to show grit, innovation and hard work, even if the Government shows none of the above.
Have a happy and safe Christmas, and here is hoping 2026 delivers better seasonal conditions and far fewer political droughts.
ENDS
