A WA senator has defended a wet T-shirt competition at a popular Broome pub, vowing to visit the event on his next trip north and backing similar competitions in Perth.

Labor senator Glenn Sterle emerged as an unlikely supporter of the Roebuck Bay Hotel this week, saying he fully supported the controversial weekly event, reported Perthnow.

"I've told Mike (the Roebuck Bay Hotel publican) I'm going to have a look and talk to the people. I'll be at the wet T-shirt competition the next time I'm in Broome," Senator Sterle, a former Kimberley truck driver, said.

"People who say it demeans women get your feet back on the ground." Asked if a similar event should be held in Perth, Senator Sterle said: "Of course it should.

"If there's a requirement for it and people are going to pay to see it, why not?" His comments come after a report in The Sunday Times last week in which Liberal MP Peter Abetz said the competition, which has a $500 prize, was demeaning to women and created an atmosphere in which women were viewed as sexual objects.

Opposition spokeswoman for women's interests, Michelle Roberts, also said the event was "unfortunate" and not good for the women involved.

The story caused an uproar, generating more than 200 comments on this newspaper's website, PerthNow. Roebuck Bay Hotel general manager Mike Windle said running a hotel was hard enough without politicians imposing personal views that lacked substance.

"In light of the overwhelming support for the wet T-shirt competition as indicated in the online public comments, it is obvious the vast majority of the public, or those who chose to comment, didn't see an issue with the competition," he said.

"There has been no reasonable investigation or understanding of the wants or needs of the public."

Senator Sterle said the women who entered the competitions were adult and the event was "a bit of fun".

"It paints all politicians as stale bottles of milk, attacking something that's just a bit of fun," said Senator Sterle, a former Transport Workers Union organiser who has been in the Senate five years.

"The hotel offers a service which is obviously popular among patrons and townspeople. To get 700 people in one establishment in the Kimberley is no mean feat. For crying out loud, it's the Kimberley."



Senator Sterle, who spent 12 years as a truck driver in the Pilbara and Kimberley, said politicians should focus on problems in their own electorates.