Peter Kennedy

ANALYSIS: Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls has attacked the debt reduction strategies of both the Liberal and Labor parties as unrealistic. However, he confirmed that, in the event of a hung parliament after the March 11 election, his party would only work with the Liberals to form a new government.

ANALYSIS: There used to be a golden rule in election campaigns that candidates should be seen but not heard. The public face of the party was the leader, whose commitments and comments were always carefully scripted.

ANALYSIS: Colin Barnett and Mark McGowan face the biggest test of their long political careers over the next 12 days. Each knows that a loss in the March 11 state election will mean the end of their political career.

OPINION: The polls appear to be tightening ahead of next month’s election, with renewed interest also in which minor parties may hold the balance of power.

ANALYSIS: Colin Barnett has taken a political risk in expressing his view that the Fair Work Commission’s historic decision to cut Sunday penalty rates for pharmacy, fast food, hospitality and retail workers should also apply to Western Australian award workers.

ANALYSIS: Labor leader Mark McGowan had the edge over Premier Colin Barnett in their 30-minute confrontation on Channel 7 last night.

ANALYSIS: Why has WA Labor dumped its proposed 50 per cent renewable energy target for the state by 2030, at the same time as the party’s federal leader, Bill Shorten, is promoting the figure as a national goal?

ANALYSIS: Malcolm Turnbull was simply bowing to political reality when fending off questions about Western Australia’s miserable share of GST revenue during his whirlwind visit to Perth on Monday.

ANALYSIS: Both Colin Barnett and Mark McGowan wisely avoided making big spending commitments when they launched their formal election campaigns on Sunday.

ANALYSIS: With early voting for the state election due to start on Monday, both Colin Barnett and Mark McGowan will face major tests when they deliver their formal policy speeches on Sunday.

ANALYSIS: There has never been a better time to be a voter in the regional port cities of Albany, Bunbury and Geraldton. All are marginal seats and the centre of very close attention from the major parties.

ANALYSIS: Full marks to the Labor Party for coming up with its debt reduction strategy early in the election campaign. It indicates both the party and shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt are serious about getting the state’s finances into a much healthier position.

OPINION: Our political leaders do voters a disservice by failing to spell out their economic agenda.

ANALYSIS: Memories of 2001 will be top-of -mind for many Liberal Party state executive members when they meet tomorrow to decide the preference recommendations for their how-to-vote cards ahead of next month’s election.

ANALYSIS: The Labor Party has moved quickly to snuff out any suggestion it will be pushing for a 50 per cent renewable energy target for the South West Interconnected System if it wins next month’s state election.

ANALYSIS: The state election battleground has now moved to Perth’s northern suburbs, with three Liberal-held seats previously thought impregnable now in play.

Former premier Richard Court has urged producers in Western Australia to become more active to take advantage of the significant export opportunities emerging in Asian markets.

OPINION: WA Liberals would prefer Malcolm Turnbull stayed away in the lead-up to the March election, unless he has some good news to share about the GST.

OPINION: The WA branch of Queenslander Pauline Hanson’s protest party appears set to influence the state election. 

Opinion: A Labor state government will seek to incentivise the public sector to more energetically pursue policies.

The acting United States Ambassador to Australia, James Carouso, says there is enormous scope for increased American investment in northern Australia, including in the Broome and Ord River regions.

Three leading professionals have joined forces to take control of the Peppermint Grove branch of the Liberal Party, which is influential in the preselection process for Colin Barnett’s state seat of Cottesloe.

Legal issues swirling around One Nation’s Rod Culleton could cruel the party’s chances at the March state poll.

Colin Barnett may be the government’s best performer in parliament, but his standing in voters’ eyes is fuelling talk of a challenge.

The Nationals’ proposed iron ore charge is part of a larger strategy to lure voters from its rivals at the March election.

A Labor plan to boost manufacturing in WA has put it at odds with the Barnett government just months from the state poll.

Uncertainty about the direction of the government and its leadership is likely to persist despite the premier’s win last week.

Brendon Grylls’ proposal to lift the tax rate on WA’s two biggest miners may have received some bad press, but at least it has started a conversation. 

The Barnett government is in no position to quell union unrest with generous pay deals.

Brendon Grylls was something of a change-agent when he got the Royalties for Regions policy implemented, but his plan to tax iron ore tonnages has business worried.

WA’s belated adoption of changes to voter registration requirements has opened up a new challenge for the major parties ahead of the March 2017 poll.

Malcolm Turnbull’s campaign failings have highlighted the danger of giving your opponent a free kick, and WA Liberals are sure to heed the warning.