The Hon. Lachlan Hunter, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food and Member for Central Wheatbelt, Media Release, 14 May 2026

The Cook Labor Government has once again shown Western Australia’s pastoral and agricultural industries exactly where they sit on Labor’s cull list: number one.

Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food and Member for Central Wheatbelt Lachlan Hunter has slammed Labor for siding with the Greens and the Animal Justice Party in support of a radical anti-farming agenda that would cripple wild dog control across regional WA.

The motion, moved by Hon Amanda Dorn MLC of the Animal Justice Party, called on the Government to remove dingoes as declared pests and end critical control measures including 1080 baiting and trapping.

Mr Hunter said the motion was nothing more than a backdoor attack on WA’s livestock industry and another example of Labor quietly cutting deals with fringe inner-city activists at the expense of our primary industries.

“Labor has sold out pastoralists and livestock farmers in WA yet again,” Mr Hunter said.

“This is a dirty political deal between Labor, the Greens and the Animal Justice Party, and it is hardworking businesses that will pay the price.”

“The Greens and Animal Justice Party think dingoes are a romantic symbol of the outback. Farmers know them as predators who maul sheep alive, destroy breeding programs, wipe out livelihoods and leave devastating emotional and financial damage for farming families.”

Mr Hunter said the timing could not be worse, with regional communities already battling Labor’s cuts to Recognised Biosecurity Groups, uncertainty around completion of the State Barrier Fence and mounting pressure on the agricultural sector.

“Labor cannot claim to support agriculture while simultaneously siding with activists who want to dismantle the very biosecurity tools farmers rely on.”

Mr Hunter said WA sheep producers were already reeling from Labor’s support for the live sheep export ban and warned this latest move was another attack on regional industries.

“First, Labor stood by and allowed the live sheep export industry to be dismantled. Now they are flirting with policies that would unleash more wild dog attacks across pastoral and farming regions,” he said.

“Regional WA is sick and tired of being sacrificed to keep inner-city activist parties happy.”

“The Cook Government needs to come clean on what promises have been made behind closed doors to the Greens and the Animal Justice Party, because regional WA can see exactly where this is heading.”