Cook recalls WA’s Covid glory days as election nears

Roger Cook also talked up the state’s economic performance ahead of what is expected to be a comfortable re-election this weekend

Western Australia Premier, Roger Cook speaks during the WA Labor’s 2025 State Election Campaign Launch in Perth. Picture: Paul Garvey / The Australian

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West Australian premier Roger Cook has evoked the memory of his government’s handling of the Covid era in his final major pitch to voters ahead of this weekend’s state election.

As his predecessor Mark McGowan watched on, Mr Cook used his speech to a business breakfast in Perth on Tuesday to remind the audience of his role in WA’s Covid response – which provoked ire in much of the rest of Australia, but was rewarded in the west in 2021 with the most emphatic win in Australian electoral history.

Mr McGowan stood down suddenly in 2023, with Mr Cook now looking to lead Labor into a third term.

“I think people understand that Mark and I were a very strong team in government. I was his deputy during the time that he was the premier, and I think people acknowledged and recognised he did an amazing job for the people in Western Australia, and the team has all contributed towards that growth record,” Mr Cook said.

“And it’s that same team that we present today to say, let’s take the economy, let’s take this state forward.”

Mr Cook was WA’s health minister through the early years of the pandemic, but stood down from the role in late 2022 after a series of major sagas in the health system. Health has remained the biggest weak spot for Labor in the west ahead of what is expected to be a comfortable re-election this Saturday.

While Liberal leader Libby Mettam has repeatedly accused the Cook government of failing to make the most of the biggest economic boom in the state’s history, Mr Cook said the state’s success was down to much more than just luck.

“They (the Liberals) like to chalk up Western Australia’s success to a mining boom, the GST share, anything but effective governance,” Mr Cook said.

“The truth is that our success belongs to all Western Australians.”

He cited the efforts to ensure WA’s world-leading mining industry continued through the pandemic, and more recently his government’s recent efforts to derail the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of environmental laws, which had been opposed by the mining sector.

“Everywhere else in the world faced either a production slowdown or shutdown. Meanwhile, our resources industry reached record levels,” he said.

“Our state, our economy, emerged the strongest in the country. In fact, it’s among the strongest in the world.

“That’s why I stood up for WA when so-called Nature Positive laws – created in Canberra – threatened our economy. It’s also why I continue to stand up to states or so-called ‘experts’ seeking to erode our hard-fought GST share.”