Joseph Poprzeczny

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 They either back outdated trading regulations, find excuses not to scrap them or hope the issue goes away.

THE long lead-up to this week’s political bloodletting in Labor’s Federal Caucus room was a Godsend for State Liberal leader Colin Barnett.

PREMIER Geoff Gallop teamed-up with Queensland and South Australian Labor premiers, Peter Beattie and Mike Rann respectively at the February 1998 Constitutional Convention to argue for an elected Australian head of state to be called president.

THOSE wishing to see Australia’s last constitutional link with Buckingham Palace severed undoubtedly saw the resignation of former Brisbane Archbishop Peter Hollingworth from the Governor-Generalship as a major victory.

NOW the Gallop Government has moved to replace the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) with a similar bureaucracy, the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), are we to assume all will be kosher on WA’s crime fighting front?

GEOFF Gallop probably recalls from his university student and teaching days that an often used disparaging term, when referring to politicians, was to allege they were being authoritarian.

MANY of us will remember seeing a baffled Health Minister Bob Kucera recently facing TV cameras and attempting to explain why his department had bankrolled a publication coaching Perth women on how to be sensual and client-oriented prostitutes.

JUST as former Labor premier Brian Burke vacated the media spotlight over lobbying, his long-time party pal Kim Beazley came into its beam. State Scene certainly never expected to be re-focusing on Mr Beazley so soon

THE Gallop Government’s guillotining of former premier Brian Burke’s and one-time minister Julian Grill’s lobbying work highlights several interesting inconsistencies.

PREMIER Gallop’s official website carries information that, on the face of it, looks impressive.

THE wife of former Labor Minister and now successful lobbyist, Julian Grill, has warned Premier Geoff Gallop that the “witch hunt” against her husband and former Labor Premier Brian

“BRIAN Burke will now become a very tragic figure.”

Is the highly sought after position of lord mayor really worth winning? Joe Poprzeczny assesses its limited powers and offers recommendations on how to improve the role.

THE issue of lobbying resurfaced in the media last week. WA’s current lobbying activities were first highlighted early this year and Premier Geoff Gallop has had a tortuous time explaining his Government’s handling of it.

TWO Saturdays ago a conference was held in the WA Constitutional Centre, one of the historic buildings on the hillock behind Parliament House.

TWO Geraldton-based fishing companies – Latitude Fisheries and Tohzai King – are gearing up to agist fish at sea.

THE issue of Western Australia’s freshwater needs persistently rates highly in party political and other local polling. Press reports showing quarter-full dams and constant chatter about the so-called greenhouse effect have had their impact.

SOON after the November 2001 Federal election, State Scene quizzed one of WA’s more insightful Federal MPs.

ELECTORAL Affairs Minister Jim McGinty’s decision to embark on a costly High Court challenge to the weighting of WA’s rural electorates provides a suitable opportunity to revisit this issue.

PHOSPHATE mining and tourism, the two economic staples of tropical Christmas Island – 2630 kilometres north-west of Perth – could be diversified.

HERE are the first three paragraphs from an article in a local newspaper (Western Suburbs Weekly) that reached letterboxes around February 4.

SOMETHING resembling a Mexican stand-off appears to have developed between Perth City Council (PCC) and Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan, just when they should be in close contact. The PCC, for more than a year, has made it clear that it believed M

STATE Scene only rarely considers issues that can be categorised as international affairs.

AS January 2003 recedes we approach the Gallop Government’s half-way mark.