WA Premier Roger Cook: we are ‘proudly independent’ from federal Labor

WA Labor Premier Roger Cook has declared his ­government is ‘proudly indep­endent’ and that his focus is on ensuring re-election rather than helping Anthony Albanese shore up crucial WA seats.

WA Premier Roger Cook in his Perth office. Picture: Colin Murty

West Australian Labor Premier Roger Cook has declared his ­government is “proudly indep­endent” and that his focus is on ensuring re-election rather than helping Anthony Albanese shore up crucial WA seats.

In his first sit-down interview of the year, and on the eve of the Prime Minister arriving for the first of many visits to the west ahead of this year’s federal election, Mr Cook noted there were differences of approach between WA Labor and its federal counterparts on a “whole range of issues”.

The WA Premier also flagged his intention to capitalise on his state’s new-found national electoral significance by targeting federal funding for a multibillion-dollar overhaul of port infrastructure. And he stressed that his government did not take anything for granted despite holding a seemingly impregnable position ahead of the March state election.

In comments that will do little to dispel the impression that WA Labor wants to put distance between itself and a struggling federal government ahead of two elections due in as many months, Mr Cook said he would not be distracted from his own campaign.

“Unlike other premiers around the country, I’ve got an election to win myself, so that’s my focus,” Mr Cook said.

“I’m just going to make sure I focus on the eighth of March, and making sure that we communicate to the West Australian people what our plan for the future is, how we’re going to keep the economy strong, how we’re going to maintain strong growth in jobs.

“While I understand the Prime Minister has his own race to run, we are focused on our election at the moment, and that will obviously be soaking up our entire bandwidth between now and the eighth of March.”

The next federal election must be held by May 17.

Since Mark McGowan’s shock retirement in May 2023, Mr Cook has – to the displeasure of some backbenchers and party members – been a strong advocate for WA’s world-leading mining and oil and gas industries. He successfully lobbied Mr Albanese to pause plans for federal Nature Positive laws that would have increased regulatory uncertainty for those sectors, repealed the contentious Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, and to the frustration of environmental groups watered down the state’s environmental approvals processes.

Multiple decisions by the federal government have caused headaches for Mr Cook’s government and have given ammunition to the bedraggled state opposition. On top of the Nature Positive furore, the federal ban on live sheep exports, industrial relations changes and decisions around Aboriginal heritage have been felt keenly in the west.

While Mr Cook said the Prime Minister’s backdown on Nature Positive showed he understood the significance of WA and its mining sector, he acknowledged there were differences between their governments.

“We are a WA Labor government. We are proudly independent in terms of our perspective, because Western Australia has a unique role to play,” he said.

“And so from that perspective, there will always be not differences of opinion, but differences of approach in terms of a whole range of issues.

“The important thing to do, though, is to make sure that you’ve got a strong relationship with the federal government so you can continue to communicate the priorities for the state and that they can make sure that they’re backing you.

“I’m really pleased with the work that the Albanese government has done to support us in a lot of our economic policies, and obviously we’d like to see that continue.”

Federal Labor’s best result in the west in 2022, when the party picked up four additional seats, effectively delivered Mr Albanese the prime ministership. Labor’s ability to hold on to those gains could determine if it can hold on to power. Since his election, Mr Albanese has made more ­visits to WA than any other prime minister.

Mr Cook has used his state’s increased electoral significance to extract guarantees the continuation of the controversial GST floor arrangements, which have delivered billions of extra federal taxpayer dollars to a state rolling in mining royalties.

Asked what he hoped to attract from federal leaders trying to court the WA vote, Mr Cook said he was looking for support for major port developments planned for Perth and the regions.

The government has unveiled a long-term plan to relocate WA’s main container port from Fremantle to Kwinana in Perth’s south, a project set to cost more than $7bn. There are also plans to upgrade the Geraldton port in WA’s Midwest and progress the long-awaited Oakajee port project, which in its latest iteration is envisaged as a clean energy hub.

“We need significant assistance around transport infrastructure, particularly around ports,” Mr Cook said.

“That’s for the future for the state, and … it’s for the future of the national economy as well.”

The Albanese government’s announcement this week of a further $7.2bn for upgrading Queensland’s Bruce Highway – meaning it will commit 80 per cent of the funding for the project – has encouraged WA.

Mr Cook enters the election campaign in a seemingly ­unbeatable position, given the Liberal Party won just two of 59 lower house seats back in 2021. But he said he had warned his party room not to take anything for granted.

“It’s something that we talk about openly, making sure that people understand that any election is a loseable election,” he said.

“You have to be humble, you have to make sure you go to the people with a plan, with a policy that respects their vote. And that’s what we’ll be doing over the next 60 days.”

State opposition MPs have long been quietly hoping for the state election to be held before the federal poll, in the hope that voter discontent with the Albanese government could translate into a few extra seats at a state level.