Mark Pownall

The City of Perth might oversee the heart of corporate Western Australia, but business is under-represented on its governing council. Mark Pownall reports that many believe the State Government should recognise the unique needs of our CBD.

The bulk of Perth’s 30,000 potential business voters might be viewed as apathetic when it comes to going through the motions of getting or maintaining their place on the city’s electoral roll, but at least one major group bucks that trend.

This week Geoff Gallop has effectively made the political trifecta, calling for a referendum on retail trading hours to remove the last of the three big issues threatening his government’s re-election.

Our online poll said it all this week. We asked our readers if they were happy with the half-a-percentage point cut in payroll tax and barely any of them thought it was a good idea.

Since the recent Federal election I have had numerous discussions dissecting the result and the following convulsions in Federal Labor.

A Pilot program at Western Australia’s dominant health fund, HBF, could soon be competing with local financial advisers if all goes to plan.

As financial services providers grapple with Financial Services Reform legislation, those within their ranks who have studied organisational behaviour might recall Pavlov’s Dog.

John Howard’s fourth term re-election is likely to herald a period of major change for business in Australia.

Former Hockeyroos coach Ric Charlesworth thinks business has it too easy. It takes something special to reach the level of elite performance, as Mark Pownall reports.

Last week I was taken to task by some readers over our coverage of Federal Labor’s plans to abolish Australian Workplace Agreements.

In the wake of the Prime Minister’s $6 billion weekend spending spree, I couldn’t help reflecting on a piece I had read recently on the purchasing power of election promises.

Mark Latham’s promise to give up to $75 million a year to Western Australia to attract major new gas and processing projects to the State largely went unnoticed at the weekend.

At this time of year it’s perhaps not surprising that our universities start making new appointments as they prepare to compete for the hearts and minds of students-to-be.

We've received a fair bit of feedback in recent weeks about building magnate Len Buckeridge’s interview at our Success & Leadership forum.

Board performance is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Mark Pownall looks at the changing corporate landscape.

I hate to be a killjoy when our Olympic athletes have performed so well, but I did feel it was time to put some of the bragging in context – but a little less subjectively than Roy & HG did in the various tallies they provided.

WHAT is it about the company building skills that are missing from our entrepreneurial ranks in the field of technology?

I hate to repeat myself week in and week out, but the skills shortage in Western Australia is looming as a major issue for this State.

Could the answer to Western Australia’s medium-term power problems lie on the forest floor?

Overshadowed by some clever politicking by Labor leader Mark Latham on the US Free Trade Agreement, the Federal Opposition’s industrial relations policy has failed to get the scrutiny it deserves.

As the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre begins the process of opening its doors to the public, the foreshore building has attracted a fresh round of analysis/criticism.

The changing of the guard at retail car giant Automotive Holdings Group has coincided with a restructuring of the business to separate the flagship motor vehicle business and a growing property empire.

I did try to slip away quietly for a couple of weeks but my colleagues let it be known that I was “on assignment” in the US, so I’d best deliver a few pearls of wisdom on that front, otherwise some of you might be disappointed.

I have been dwelling on the remarkable news of a couple of weeks ago that unemployment in Western Australia had dropped to 5 per cent in May – the lowest level since seasonally adjusted monthly data was produced in 1978.

Imagine how many people would have laughed 10 years ago at the suggestion that, not only was a CEO from Western Australia lauded as the nation’s best, heading a company that was a market darling,

One transaction was all it took for big investors to turn on market darling Alinta

Down here at WA Business News we thrive on the fact that national media generally forget Western Australia exists, leaving a convenient vacuum for us to fill – but even so I sometimes get amazed at what is missed by our peers in Sydney and Melbourne.

LAST week’s introduction of full contestability in the retail gas market arrived with more of a muted whimper than any sort of big bang.

IT is fascinating to see our new economic regulator Lyndon Rowe stick up for former independent gas pipelines access regulator Ken Michael’s determination regarding pricing arrangements for the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline.

THE mining community may well have lost a good friend during the pre-selection process for the Liberal seat of Tangney.