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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Self-styled \u2018Dad from Kwinana\u2019 Premier Roger Cook is moving away from his electorate because of the lengthy commute from his home to the CBD.<\/p>\n In a message to Kwinana Labor branch members on Saturday afternoon, Cook said he was moving from his Wellard home with his wife Carly Lane closer to Parliament House in West Perth, blaming the time spent in the car on the Kwinana Freeway.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know I have committed to the role as Premier beyond the next election. I think it\u2019s important for Labor. I think it\u2019s important for the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do the job with the level of energy and commitment I believe it deserves, I need to spend more time in the community and less time travelling in the car.<\/p>\n \u201cCarly and I have made the difficult decision to move to the city…so we can apply ourselves 100 per cent to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Kwinana Freeway is one of the most congested stretches of road in the state during peak hour, particularly south of Russell Road, where it drops to two lanes.<\/p>\n Construction is expected to start on a $700 million widening of the freeway later this year.<\/p>\n The upgrade will include a new lane in each direction between Russell Road and Mortimer Road as well as new ramp signals on the northbound side of the freeway between Safety Bay Road and Roe Highway, to \u201csmooth the flow of traffic on the freeway at busy times.\u201d<\/p>\n Cook said Wellard was still their home, and they would rent out their house.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to continuing to work with you to provide the people of Kwinana with the best possible representation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the meantime, my [electorate officer] team and I will maintain our profile and work hard to keep delivering for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n State MPs don\u2019t have to live in their electorates in Western Australia.<\/p>\n Cook leaned heavily on his roots in Kwinana during the 2025 election campaign, often referring to himself as \u201ca dad from Kwinana\u201d at public events and on social media.<\/p>\n Cook\u2019s predecessor Mark McGowan created headlines when he moved from his beachfront home in Rockingham.<\/p>\n McGowan was told by authorities to leave his well-known home due to safety concerns that arose throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"WA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8f732e6d00c1d01a516addfcfbd12093e11e6843.jpeg\")
WA Premier Roger Cook.Photo Ross Swanborough<\/p>\n![\"Hamish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/07ef20e984b872b4ba7b8d62f82c29b34424604d.png\")
Hamish Hastie<\/a> 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 X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-525069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}