WA Election 2025: Roe electorate candidates cast votes and talk to voters on big issues

Candidates for the Roe electorate made a last pitch to voters in Katanning on Saturday.

Nationals candidate and Roe incumbent Peter Rundle thanked his family, friends and volunteers who had rallied around him in the final weeks of the campaign, spreading themselves across 36 polling booths.

He also said he had dedicated himself to standing up for regional values and concerns, including the Federal ban on live sheep exports and the reform of the Firearms Act, in his role to “pass on the feelings of my constituents to the wider State Parliament”.

His wife Andrea, who joined him at Katanning Town Hall, said there had been “comradery”, “positivity” and “support” among the candidates throughout the election.

Labor candidate Brad Willis was also at the town hall and confident he could steal the “very difficult” seat from the Roe incumbent with his party improving every year.

“I can’t hope for any more than that,” he said.

Speaking from the Williams polling station after an earlier visit to Wagin, Liberal Party candidate Marie O’Dea said she had noticed a lack of Labor presence in the region.

Ms O’Dea said she is confident Roger Cook will get “a strong message” this election with regional voters experiencing “buyers’ regret” since Labor’s win four years ago.

“Nobody wants to buy what Labor is selling,” she said.

Ms O’Dea said the main issues in the electorate were housing, cost of living, and gun laws. She called the failed Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act “devious”.

All three candidates had plans to visit polling booths around the Great Southern and Southern Wheatbelt area.

Voters were mixed in their support with Katanning local Tuhiwai McRoberts voting for the Nationals WA because he did not believe Labor had “done their job” for regional communities and country people.

Mr McRoberts said he was thinking of his future and voting for the party he believes will do “what’s best for country people as well at the city”.

Katanning local Tracey Palmer was also passionate about regional issues, but said she was giving her vote to the Liberals in solidarity with the Keep The Sheep movement.

“The farmers need every bit of help they can get,” Ms Palmer said.

Greens supporter and Katanning resident Liam Hutton said decided to hand out flyers for candidate David Worth after chatting to him in Woolworths.

Mr Hutton said he felt despair about the “inaction towards climate change” and the conversation with Mr Worth “pricked his conscience” as they discussed the role climate change plays in natural disasters such as the LA fires and the current Queensland cyclone.

Despite feeling like he’s “whistling in the breeze” against popular Nationals candidate Mr Rundle, Mr Hutton said he had pledged his allegiance to ensuring a healthier environment for his grandchildren to grow up in.