Joseph Poprzeczny

WESTERN Australia is moving towards ensuring it won’t find itself in a predicament similar to that which Prime Minister John Howard and hapless Governor-General, Dr Peter Hollingworth, have recently placed Australia.

A CASE can be made out for shutting down well over a third of State politicians’ electorate offices – 34 to be exact.Presently, 91 State MPs have such outlying offices. Too few MPs are based within or close to Parliament House.

DO Western Australia’s 91 MPs wield too much power over longstanding community customs and traditions?Mark Twain would probably say they do, as it was he who penned that one liner about people not being safe while legislatures were in session.

IT has been a year since Premier Geoff Gallop delivered a stirring election night victory speech in which he claimed Labor had emerged from the wilderness. Minutes earlier, Liberal leader Richard Court had conceded.

ELECTORAL Affairs Minister Jim McGinty’s fingers are tightly crossed – hoping 13 becomes his lucky number.He desperately needs to deliver on the electoral reform front, otherwise his caucus colleagues will see him as “three-time loser Jim”.

FORMER Labor deputy premier Mal Bryce’s CV is one most Liberal premiers or deputy premiers would envy.

WA’S Upper House, the Legislative Council, is under attack once again.This time the move against it comes not from the ALP, but from conservatives – Liberals and Nationals – some of whom want it abolished.

NOW that Attorney-General Jim McGinty and Greens MLC Dee Margetts have wrapped up their deal to boost the size of the Legislative Council from 34 to 36 members, it’s worth considering if WA has too many or too few MPs.

THE wisecrack that “whoever you vote for, a politician always wins” is true by definition.Rarely highlighted, however, is the fact that WA’s State MPs have, in relatively recent times, developed a propensity for boosting their numbers.

CHRISTMAS is a time to relax, eat, drink, and contemplate.Perhaps some in our political parties will even reflect on the year that has just passed.

SOMEWHERE near the bowels of WA’s Liberal Party there’s a Deep Throat (DT), like the one who had Richard Nixon’s White House reeling 25 years ago.

Breaking ties the best option for this unionLET us not become overly sentimental about possible outcomes of the current calls by Labor MPs to break, or at least markedly weaken, ties between unions and the ALP.

THE push in the 1990s to transform Australia into a republic was driven by a handful of eastern states millionaires and associated activists with a few influential interstate mates.

LABOR has moved swiftly to replace twice-defeated Kim Beazley, at the same time making frontbench personnel changes in readiness for Election 2004.

ON October 5, the day Prime Minister Howard named the election day, I called in at a Liberal campaign office to meet the candidate.Soon after, a Federal MP arrived.“Just heard November 10 is election day,” I said.

CERTAIN questions make politicians uneasy.Try asking whether their children attend a State or private school.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Anderson yesterday opened the imaginative $21 million Mining Hall of Fame in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, which hopefully will become a significant WA tourism venue.

HARD-EARNED taxpayers? dollars are being eyed-off so hundreds of millions more can be earmarked for universities.Opposition leader Kim Beazley recently released his complicated Knowledge Nation policy document.

WA goes into Australia’s first federal election campaign this century with 21 seats at stake – 15 in the House of Represen-tatives and six in the Senate.For the second time, Western Australian Kim Beazley seeks Australia’s top political job.

IF WA’s economy is to be internationally competitive, show marked growth and much-needed workforce diversification this century, it’s essential there be access to significantly cheaper energy.

LAST Sunday I called an acquaintance who lives in a house offering exquisite Swan River views.Nearby are some of WA’s best-situated residences, including Rose Hancock-Porteous’ Prix d’Amour.

WA’S five-strong Upper House Greens contingent is turning up the heat on Electoral Affairs Minister Jim McGinty, so much so that if he’s not careful, or shrewd, both Bills

ALTHOUGH Prime Minister John Howard returned from battered Washington without promises for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA, the odds are that one will be signed in the near future.

WHATEVER date Prime Minister John Howard makes election day, for Labor leader Kim Beazley it’s crunch time.

ELECTORAL distribution remains a difficult issue whichever political side is in power in WA.The over-arching reason is that WA is one third of Australia – about three times the size of Texas – and unevenly populated.

CONTROVERSIES occasionally arise over whether a proposed monument – a bust or obelisk – ought to be erected at a particular site on WA’s coast.True, it’s not a burning issue, compared with, say, hospital or education funding.

THERE are several ways of viewing WA’s latest mini-political extravaganza, last week’s talkfest, the Drug Summit.

GOVERNMENTS find it hard avoiding being secretive and clandestine.

WA has four State-owned universities and one private campus.All offer fee-paying places to overseas students, thereby boosting WA’s foreign exchange earnings.

WESTERN Australia’s three conservative parties – Liberals, Nationals and One Nation – are a shabby, rudderless lot.The Liberals are split between three warring factions – the right, center-right and the wets.

LIKE Aussie Rules, politics is a fast-moving activity and can be played deadly seriously.Usually there are only the numerically astute and the politically redundant, especially during party pre-selection season.

IN recent years we’ve been subjected to a stream of apparently insightful reports in Australia’s tabloids claiming the Navy’s six Collins-class submarines were duds.