SHADOW Agriculture and Food Minister and Central Wheatbelt MLA Lachlan Hunter has criticised Premier Roger Cook’s recent overseas trade mission for failing to include meetings with agricultural stakeholders, calling it a missed opportunity to support one of Western Australia’s most vital export industries.

Premier Cook returned from his first official mission to Indonesia and Singapore last week, touting carbon capture and storage as the next boom for Western Australia.

Mr Hunter said while the premier made time for meetings on green energy and decarbonisation, the agriculture sector, a pillar of WA’s regional economy and a major contributor to trade with both countries, was completely sidelined.

“As Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food, I find it staggering that while the premier is promoting WA as a global trading partner, he failed to include agriculture in any part of his itinerary,” Mr Hunter said.

“Agriculture is a $10 billion industry, and our farmers are leading exporters of wheat, beef, lamb, and live animals to Indonesia and Singapore.

“These are relationships built on decades of trust, quality and reliability.

“To ignore the sector entirely sends the wrong message to both our trading partners and our producers at home.”

Mr Hunter said the mission was a missed chance to reinforce WA’s clean, green agricultural brand and to advocate for the future of key exports currently under threat from domestic and international policy shifts.

“At a time when farmers are already grappling with market uncertainty, biosecurity risks, and a live export ban looming at the federal level, the premier should be standing shoulder to shoulder with them - not leaving them off the invite list.

“If the premier is serious about economic diversification, regional development, and food security, then agriculture must be front and centre - not an afterthought.”