WA farming couple slammed for hiring two skimpies to help sell machinery at auction

A couple who hired two skimpies to help sell farming machinery have hit back at outraged onlookers.

Two skimipies hired to help sell farming machinery at local auction have sparked outrage among WA's agricultural community. Picture X.

A West Australian couple have come under fire after they hired two skimpies to help sell their machinery at an auction, but the pair say it was simply an attempt to “have a bit of fun”.

Wade and Lisa Anderson hosted a machinery auction on Thursday in Bunjil, in the state’s midwest, with farming supply reseller Nutrien Ag Solutions helping to co-ordinate the machinery clearance sale.

But the couple were slammed when two women were captured wearing cowboy hats, boots, denim shorts and white singlets while standing next to their tractor for sale.

In a since deleted post to social media, attending farmer Debbie Gillam criticised the move, questioning why the coupled thought hiring the women was necessary.

“Dumbfounded. Sad. Couple thought skimpies needed at clearing sale,” Ms Gillam wrote.

Two skimpies hired to help sell farming machinery at local auction have sparked outrage among WA's agricultural community. Picture: Supplied/X

“Is this how some people see the role of #WomenInAg?

“Why did Nutrien let it continue? Both the man and woman farmer organised this — why?

“They had their own young daughters at the sale. I was sad for them and their future.”

Speaking to 6PR Radio on Monday morning, Mr Anderson said the hired skimpies were neither “flirtatious” nor “exposed”, and the couple were simply trying to spice up the event.

“It’s not the most exciting things to sell, tractors and … truck trailers, so just tried to have a bit of fun really,” he said.

“They weren’t flirtatious or exposing themselves, not even a little bit.”

Ms Anderson said they were just “trying to do something different” and didn’t mean to offend anyone.

“There was actually a lot of women at that clearing sale that were probably wearing less than those girls,” she said.

“I’d made it clear to Wade that if we were going to do it, I wanted it to be tasteful and we certainly did not want to offend anybody. We were trying to do something different.

“We’ve come off the back of a bad harvest, and it’s been dry and hot. It was just something different we wanted to try.”

She also confirmed the two women remained fully dressed for the entirety of the auction and said, to the pair’s knowledge, Ms Gillam was the only farmer of 300 attendees who was unhappy with their presence.

Despite the backlash, Mr Anderson said the auction went “really well”.

Originally published as WA farming couple slammed for hiring two skimpies to help sell machinery at auction