Opinion

ASK any West Aussie if they're living in a democracy and, Sydney-to-a-brick they'll say, yes.

MOST of us have been told, or have subsequently worked out, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

AS the Federal Government salivates over the billions it will earn from the Gorgon project, it would be worth its leadership considering how this potential resources revenue and vast billions that preceded it came to be.

WITH the next State election likely in mid-2004 rather than early 2005, and set to be a close encounter, it's worth asking what kind of premier Opposition leader Colin Barnett would make.

THE green light for the Gorgon is a major step ahead for Western Australia and, as the Federal politicians know, a significant boost to the nation's treasury.

AUSTRALIAN prime ministers, like democratically elected leaders worldwide, are under constant pressure from published opinion polls that tell voters how leaders are faring between elections.

IT seems that we have seen our first results from negotiations for a free trade agreement with the US, with many Western Australian farmers ending up winners even though no deal has been signed yet.

WHAT is worse than not having enough money? For some people, dear souls, it is the problem of having too much.

WA Business News played host to a wide range of business people and the leading State Government figures on the issue of taxes and charges imposed in Western Australia.

LITTLE has improved for the Gallop Government since it passed the half-way mark of its term in office six months ago.

IT'S sobering to be reminded that there are limits to science, technology and Western engineering marvels such as, say, electricity distribution grids.

THIS week's vote by BankWest shareholders to agree to a takeover by UK-based HBOS should come as no surprise. Faced with the prospect of the bank becoming a lame duck with a parent that might refuse to invest, shareholders had little choice.

ALTHOUGH WA's 116 State and Federal MPs don't publicly refer to July as ‘conference month' they could, because that's when Labor and the Liberals now hold their annual State conferences.

DID anyone notice a bit of news floating around last week that Australia's film-making industry was doing well on the back of a clever tax deduction.

WA has its fair share of local government controversies, among them the bizarre Wanneroo Council royal commission.

HOUSING affordability is being billed as a Federal election issue. On the face of it, concern for new homebuyers or, more importantly, renters wanting to become home owners, is understandable.

THE development of the Gorgon gas field off Western Australia's north west coast is shaping as the major test of the Gallop Government's business-friendly credentials ahead of the next election.

POLITICIANS call it informing constituents. Journalists generally dub it, junk mail. Most voters refer to it as propaganda.

WA Business News has won third prize for Best Newspaper, Small Tabloids at the Association of Area Business Publication's Editorial Excellence Awards, announced at

INCREASING numbers of voters claim there's no real difference between WA's conservative Liberal and left-of-centre Labor parties.

EVER since The West Australian newspaper ran Dullsville as its front page headline, there has been significant public debate about whether or not this is a great place to live.

I REFER to your article on sand drift (Councils slam summer dust, WA Business News July 3).

POLITICIANS can have a devastating effect on language. This was highlighted by George Orwell in his brilliant essay, Politics and the English Language.

PROFESSIONAL indemnity is one of the crises that has failed to capture the imagination of the very people who will end up being affected – consumers.

THE high-profile dumping of the Maud's Landing proposal near Coral Bay may have been politically expedient but it leaves the Gallop Government looking extremely weak when it comes to policy.

JOE Poprzeczny's State Scene column of June 26 mentioned how I started the first Sunday trading push in WA.

NOW the second Gallop cabinet has bedded-in it's worth considering more closely the reshuffle and some outcomes.

EVERY week we publish dozens of government-based contracts and tenders in our For The Record section – doing our bit for transparency by picking through the reams of available information.

THE re-emergence of former WA Governor Major-General Michael Jeffery as Australia's top vice-regal promptly raised the question of public

SOME of you might have noticed Dr Fiona Wood gracing the cover of a magazine that came with an edition of a national newspaper this weekend.

WHEN it comes to the shopping hours issue none of WA's political parties are worth a crumpet. They either back outdated trading regulations, find excuses not to scrap them or hope the issue goes away.

THIS week I received an interesting note that started me thinking. The notion it contained was generally against compulsory superannuation.