Martin Ferguson is not a baby, but when the Federal Resources Minister let slip an obvious fact last week, that: “the resources boom is over”, it was a classic example of the old saying about truth
Treasurer Wayne Swan has described his fifth federal budget, to be delivered this evening with a forecast $1.5 billion surplus, as one for the "battlers".
The federal government has established a manufacturing industry taskforce that includes seven politicians, six unionists, two academics and one business lobbyist along with six industry executives.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy say the federal government's economic modelling of its proposed emissions trading scheme has confirmed their concerns about the scheme and its impact on the state.
Early action to tackle climate change will reduce gross national product by just a tenth of a per cent a year, with the economy continuing to grow strongly, the federal government says.
There's an elephant in the room. Whether it's a public forum or a boardroom discussion, if the topic is climate change or lower emissions or the pricing of carbon, there it is - big and hard to miss, but somehow going unnoticed.
A Perth sustainability expert believes the potential business opportunities created under an emissions trading scheme (ETS) would outweigh the risk of crippling Australia's economy.
The Canberra controversies of broadband pork barrelling, poorly behaved unionists and the budget surplus were blown out of the water this week by a new policy on remote indigenous communities, while Neale Fong's email history had a similar effect in WA.
Visitors have been causing trouble in State and Federal Parliaments this week, with door-knocking union bosses, high-rollers at Kirribilli House and lost couriers at WA's Parliament all gatecrashing debate, while Holly Deane-Johns remains uninvited.