“Sorry, you’ve got to have one unprofessional moment, don’t you? That was it,” Roger Cook said after giving the blunt assessment during a business breakfast.
“Sorry, you’ve got to have one unprofessional moment, don’t you? That was it,” Roger Cook said after giving the blunt assessment during a business breakfast.
By Hamish Hastie
March 4, 2025 — 1.45pm
West Australian Premier Roger Cook has waded into US politics in the dying days of his state election campaign, branding Vice President JD Vance a “knob” in front of a crowd of hundreds at a business breakfast in Perth.
Cook was asked a series of rapid -fire questions during a Q&A session at the breakfast at Crown Perth on Tuesday morning, when moderator Jess Page asked the premier to finish the sentence: “JD Vance is a…”
“Knob,” Cook responded quickly, to applause from the crowd.
“Sorry, you’ve got to have one unprofessional moment, don’t you? That was it.”
It is the second time in five months Cook has offered public opinion on US politics in a public forum, after warning on November 5 a Donald Trump victory represented a “dark road” that would impact trade with China and, eventually, WA’s resources-reliant economy.
During Tuesday’s Q&A session, Page asked Cook whether he still thought Trump represented a “dark road”.
“Well, I certainly think he represents an uncertain one. So again, let me just say, at times of uncertainty, you need a steady hand, experienced hand at the wheel,” he said.
Former WA premier Mark McGowan held an impromptu doorstop straight after Cook’s comments, where he was asked for his view on Vance.
“I thought Roger was entirely accurate,” McGowan said before rubbishing a question over whether it was “loose politics”.
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“How politically correct are you? I just think answer the question honestly. [Vance] is,” McGowan said.
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WA is in line to benefit from the historic AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, rendering any criticism of the US government a sensitive topic.
HMAS Stirling, the naval base on Garden Island in Perth’s south, is undergoing a decade-long $8 billion upgrade to house the nation’s future nuclear submarine fleet.
Cook’s Labor government is expected to be comfortably re-elected in Saturday’s election, with insiders from both his party and the WA Liberals suggesting the conservatives are likely to win 10 seats.
Liberal leader Libby Mettam has had a gargantuan task in bringing her party back from its worst-ever election defeat in 2021, which left it with just two lower house seats and elevated WA’s Nationals as the state’s official opposition party due to their numbers in parliament.
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Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via Twitter or email.
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