Joseph Poprzeczny

INCREASING numbers of voters claim there’s no real difference between WA’s conservative Liberal and left-of-centre Labor parties.

POLITICIANS can have a devastating effect on language. This was highlighted by George Orwell in his brilliant essay, Politics and the English Language.

THE re-emergence of former WA Governor Major-General Michael Jeffery as Australia’s top vice-regal promptly raised the question of public

WHEN it comes to the shopping hours issue none of WA’s political parties are worth a crumpet. They either back outdated trading regulations, find excuses not to scrap them or hope the issue goes away.

THE long lead-up to this week’s political bloodletting in Labor’s Federal Caucus room was a Godsend for State Liberal leader Colin Barnett.

PREMIER Geoff Gallop teamed-up with Queensland and South Australian Labor premiers, Peter Beattie and Mike Rann respectively at the February 1998 Constitutional Convention to argue for an elected Australian head of state to be called president.

THOSE wishing to see Australia’s last constitutional link with Buckingham Palace severed undoubtedly saw the resignation of former Brisbane Archbishop Peter Hollingworth from the Governor-Generalship as a major victory.

NOW the Gallop Government has moved to replace the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) with a similar bureaucracy, the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), are we to assume all will be kosher on WA’s crime fighting front?

GEOFF Gallop probably recalls from his university student and teaching days that an often used disparaging term, when referring to politicians, was to allege they were being authoritarian.

MANY of us will remember seeing a baffled Health Minister Bob Kucera recently facing TV cameras and attempting to explain why his department had bankrolled a publication coaching Perth women on how to be sensual and client-oriented prostitutes.

JUST as former Labor premier Brian Burke vacated the media spotlight over lobbying, his long-time party pal Kim Beazley came into its beam. State Scene certainly never expected to be re-focusing on Mr Beazley so soon

THE Gallop Government’s guillotining of former premier Brian Burke’s and one-time minister Julian Grill’s lobbying work highlights several interesting inconsistencies.

PREMIER Gallop’s official website carries information that, on the face of it, looks impressive.

“BRIAN Burke will now become a very tragic figure.”

THE wife of former Labor Minister and now successful lobbyist, Julian Grill, has warned Premier Geoff Gallop that the “witch hunt” against her husband and former Labor Premier Bri

THE issue of lobbying resurfaced in the media last week. WA’s current lobbying activities were first highlighted early this year and Premier Geoff Gallop has had a tortuous time explaining his Government’s handling of it.

Is the highly sought after position of lord mayor really worth winning? Joe Poprzeczny assesses its limited powers and offers recommendations on how to improve the role.

TWO Saturdays ago a conference was held in the WA Constitutional Centre, one of the historic buildings on the hillock behind Parliament House.

TWO Geraldton-based fishing companies – Latitude Fisheries and Tohzai King – are gearing up to agist fish at sea.

THE issue of Western Australia’s freshwater needs persistently rates highly in party political and other local polling. Press reports showing quarter-full dams and constant chatter about the so-called greenhouse effect have had their impact.

SOON after the November 2001 Federal election, State Scene quizzed one of WA’s more insightful Federal MPs.

ELECTORAL Affairs Minister Jim McGinty’s decision to embark on a costly High Court challenge to the weighting of WA’s rural electorates provides a suitable opportunity to revisit this issue.

PHOSPHATE mining and tourism, the two economic staples of tropical Christmas Island – 2630 kilometres north-west of Perth – could be diversified.

HERE are the first three paragraphs from an article in a local newspaper (Western Suburbs Weekly) that reached letterboxes around February 4.

SOMETHING resembling a Mexican stand-off appears to have developed between Perth City Council (PCC) and Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan, just when they should be in close contact. The PCC, for more than a year, has made it clear that it believed M

STATE Scene only rarely considers issues that can be categorised as international affairs.

AS January 2003 recedes we approach the Gallop Government’s half-way mark.

CALENDAR year 2003 is set to be a memorable and self-strengthening one for WA. And that’s despite the drought acro

An outcome of Labor’s Burke-Dowding WA Inc years was a promptly forgotten report by one-time under-treasurer Les McCarrey – The Report of the Independent Commission to Review Public Sector Finances.

OCTOBER 2002 is likely to be remembered in WA Labor circles as the month Premier Geoff Gallop started following in the footsteps of his Oxford University pal, high-profile British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

THERE’S a ticklish problem currently before the upper house.Several months ago the Government announced the appointment of a new electoral commissioner.

SCHOOLS where cricket and footie are played generally have a first and a second 11 and 18.WA’s present parliamentary arrangements have something similar – a first 14 and a second half dozen.The former is the 14-strong Gallop -led cabinet.