Opinion

Last week's comment piece from Professor Nick Forster wrongly listed the date he will be speaking a the WA Club

Liberal leader Colin Barnett has aspired since at least 1990, the year he entered state parliament, to become premier.

The boom, which we are all enjoying immensely, appears to be entering a new phase – or is it?

Having bemoaned the lack of vision in our politicians, I can hardly complain about Colin Barnett springing the Kimberley canal project on us.

Despite the Latham imbroglio and State Labor’s dismal scores in several opinion polls held late in 2004, a surprisingly large number of senior Liberals – MPs and rank-and-file – believe Gallop-led Labor is still likely to sneak home in the coming election

What would a WA election be without a big ticket prize for the people. So far, we haven’t seen anything to rival past elections. There have been higher wages promised for nurses, and more police on the beat.

Just a few weeks before going into hospital and, as it turns out, sealing his fate as Federal Opposition leader, Mark Latham was in Perth seeking answers to one of Labor’s great challenges – how to win over the small business vote.

It’s not often that a business says thanks to government. Duncan Stone and his crew at solar energy specialist Solco are doing that – in stereo.

I struggle to come to terms with the way political parties deal with the election process and I am not looking forward to the next few weeks.

The headline of a story reporting Premier Geoff Gallop’s recent address to the WA Media Club read: ‘Gallop sorry on taxes as poll looms’.

IT was once said in New York that when the bell hops start giving share tips it’s time to sell.

YOUR correspondent Tim Treadgold has put forward some interesting hypotheses to explain the delay in getting AEC’s prospectus over the line (Briefcase,

Everyone seeks to be and be known as authentic. Very few are.

JUST as the Federal Labor party rues its attempt to innovate with its leadership during the past year, we mustn’t lose sight of the need to experiment from time to time. Innovation is the key to survival and there must always be room to try new ways of t

TIM Treadgold is correct when he states that Xstrata’s primary corporate goal is to improve shareholder returns (WA Business News, December 9 2004).

WITH a State election imminent letterboxes will be increasingly stuffed with more unwelcome advertising bumph from parties to convince voters they and their candidates are working for their electorates.

“WELL, here we are again” were the words former prime minister Paul Keating uttered when announcing the 1996 Federal election he would lose to John Howard.

WE support the State Opposition’s recent call for the Gallop Government to intervene in the strike by 140 construction workers who are attempting to cajole the employer of other c

THANK you for raising my concerns about mine safety in the article, ‘Boom warning on mine safety’, (WA Business News, December 16 2004).

AN awful lot has happened between editions of our newspaper but one thing has taken the headlines for almost that entire period – Asia’s tsunami.

TIME, it seems, really does heal all wounds, with signs emerging that the investment world is gearing up for a second dose of dot.com mania.

WA Business News doesn’t consider itself a small business newspaper by any means, but a couple of things have happened this week to make me think it should be.

IT has been some time since I’ve read anything on America’s brutal Civil War, a conflict that so horrified Australia’s colonial politicians that they responded by enacting the White Australia policy once the colonies had federated.

‘LandCorp and ‘affordability’

Retail giants share secrets IT’S always hard to get retailers to share their secrets, so sometimes you have to wait until they retire or sell up before they’ll let a few tips slip.

WESTERN Australians quickly forget former premiers. Thankfully Perth author and poet Hal Colebatch, son of WA’s shortest-serving premier Sir Hal Colebatch, reminds us of his father’s efforts and achievements in a recently released biography.

PREMIER Geoff Gallop recently declined to support a referendum on daylight saving in Western Australia.

Decisions, decisions, indecisions, indecisions... Why?

XSTRATA’S low-ball takeover bid for WMC is stirring emotions.

YOU just got a testimonial. Great.It was from your best customer, saying how great you are.

IN Western Australia we have a water shortage, apparently.

I AM thinking of starting a special Monday watch column to analyse the news we have suffered with at the start of the week.