Mark Beyer

The state government employs thousands of public servants, yet real influence on public policy in Western Australia rests just with a handful of key advisers working in ministerial offices.

The state government currently employs about 5,000 people to provide corporate services, such as finance, procurement and payroll services, at a cost of $315 million every year.

Former premier and political lobbyist Brian Burke heads the group of people who have fallen off the list of Western Australia’s most influential in the past year.

Newspaper editors are meant to focus on writing headlines, but the editor of Western Australia’s only daily newspaper, Paul Armstrong, has actually generated more than his fair share over the past couple of years.

This year’s most influential lists include some new faces and even more familiar names, but politics and the big end of town still dominate.

If the amount of money invested in Western Australia is a measure of influence, then the top executives at a handful of big resource companies are among the most influential people in the state.

Rival iron ore miners in the Mid West region have formed up in two competing camps, with Murchison Metals Ltd today signing a deal with Japan's Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd to develop mining and infrastructure businesses at a cost of up to $3 billion.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has laid fraud charges against Perth property developer Kevin Pollock and two of his business associates, four years after National Australia Bank appointed receivers to 14 of Mr Pollock's companies.

The State Government has delayed making a decision on the expansion of the Ord River irrigation area, despite calls for a quick decision to help avert the collapse of the region's sugar industry.

The Economic Regulation Authority has added to concerns about the supply of gas to the domestic market in WA, concluding that problems are likely to arise over the next five to seven years.

The Auditor General has delivered a highly critical assessment of the state government's shared services project, which has experienced major cost blow-outs and failed to lift the efficiency of back-office services.

The state government has questioned the validity of a 34-year old state agreement that Midwest Corporation Ltd and Yilgarn Infrastructure Ltd are relying on for a $2 billion railway and port project in the Mid West region.

Woodside is expected to record a small decline in net profit this year, primarily because the company’s fortunes are closely tied to changes in the oil price.

Listed company Pacific Energy Ltd has become the newest entrant to Western Australia’s renewable energy sector, which is underpinned by a state government policy of quadrupling the state’s use of ‘green’ energy.

The Fremantle port authority is planning to more than double the size of its Rous Head industrial estate, as part of a $194 million port deepening project.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd is fast approaching decision time on its giant Pluto gas project, which, if it proceeds, will be the single largest investment in a resource project in Australia’s history.

The former Western Power, long derided as a tired government monopoly in need of a shake-up, has emerged as the preferred training ground for directors and executives at many of Western Australia’s new energy companies after the group’s break up.

Venture capital managers Rob Newman and Matt Callahan have completed a major restructuring and expansion of their Perth business, which has about $60 million under management.

Listed olive oil producer, Olea Australis Ltd, has gone back to the future, with the appointment of former chairman Ken Richards as chief executive officer.

Perth investors and engineers have played a lead role in the establishment of Australia’s newest entrant to the biofuels market, Biodiesel Producers Ltd, which is due to start production in October after completing construction of its plant in northern Vi

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA believes companies that are sitting on large undeveloped gas reserves should be subject to greater scrutiny when they seek to renew their retention leases.

In 1974, farmers in the Ord River Irrigation Area gave up trying to grow cotton. In 1985, they gave up trying to grow rice. Could 2007 be the year they give up trying to grow sugar?

The Federal Court has delivered a warning to company office holders about the high governance standards they need to maintain, after stripping the former company secretary of Perth-based Biodiesel Producers Ltd of his entitlement to performance shares.

Superannuation fund Westscheme has become one of Australia’s biggest providers of venture capital and is looking to expand its activities in the sector by negotiating new funding deals with universities and research institutions.

Perth accountant Geoff Kidd believes the business model employ-ed by most accounting firms has passed its use-by date, and he has put his money where his mouth is.

Wesfarmers has emerged as a new player in Western Australia’s deregulated electricity market, competing against the likes of Griffin Group and Alinta to supply industrial customers.

Albany-based law firm Hudson Henning & Goodman has continued the expansion of its Perth operation by acquiring long-standing West Perth practice, Wheatleys Legal.

The release last week of two detailed reports on the state tax review has given an insight into the kinds of far reaching reforms the state government could have pursued, if it chose to.

Capricorn Society Ltd, the centralised buying arm of the automotive repair industry, has taken the final step in its transition from a co-operative to a public company by offering shares to its members.

While two of its competitors are looking to sell their business, privately owned mining contractor Byrnecut Mining is diversifying its activities by establishing a new engineering and repair business in Pinjarra.

Limited energy supplies in Western Australia are starting to have a significant impact on new resource projects, with at least two projects battling to secure their preferred supply arrangements.

West Perth-based Moly Mines Ltd has appointed local firm Azure Capital as corporate finance adviser for its $600 million Spinifex Ridge molybdenum project, effectively replacing United States merchant bank Taylor-DeJongh.