Bunjil, Western Australia: Skimpies at farming machinery sale spark outrage

Two skimpies hired to help sell farming machinery at an auction have sparked outrage among WA’s agricultural community

A Western Australian couple has come under fire after they hired two scantily clad waitresses to help sell their second-hand farming machinery – but the pair insist it was simply an attempt to ‘have a bit of fun’.

Wade and Lisa Anderson hosted a machinery auction on Thursday in Bunjil, in the state’s Mid West, with farming supply reseller Nutrien Ag Solutions helping to co-ordinate the clearance sale.

But the couple was slammed when two women were captured wearing cowboy hats, boots, denim shorts and white singlets while standing next to their tractor for sale.

In a since-deleted post to social media, attending farmer Debbie Gillam criticised the move, questioning why the couple thought hiring the young women was necessary.

‘Dumbfounded. Sad. Couple thought skimpies needed at clearing sale,’ Ms Gillam wrote.

‘Is this how some people see the role of women in agriculture?

‘Why did Nutrien let it continue? Both the man and woman farmer organised this – why?

‘They had their own young daughters at the sale. I was sad for them and their future.’

Speaking to 6PR Radio on Monday, Mr Anderson said the hired skimpies were neither ‘flirtatious’ nor ‘exposed’, and the couple were simply trying to spice up the event.

‘It’s not the most exciting things to sell, tractors and… truck trailers, so just tried to have a bit of fun really,’ he said.

‘They weren’t flirtatious or exposing themselves, not even a little bit.’

Ms Anderson said they were just ‘trying to do something different’ and did not mean to offend anyone.

‘There was actually a lot of women at that clearing sale that were probably wearing less than those girls,’ she said.

‘I’d made it clear to Wade that if we were going to do it, I wanted it to be tasteful and we certainly did not want to offend anybody. We were trying to do something different.

‘We’ve come off the back of a bad harvest, and it’s been dry and hot. It was just something different we wanted to try.’

She also confirmed the two women remained fully dressed for the entirety of the auction and said, to the pair’s knowledge, Ms Gillam was the only farmer of 300 attendees who was unhappy with their presence.

Despite the backlash, Mr Anderson said the auction went ‘really well’.

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