Opinion

State Scene’s $20 Ozcall rechargeable phone card worked overtime last weekend.

The Corruption and Crime Commission released its report on the controversial Canal Rocks development near Yallingup last week.

Business, if opinion polls are a guide, reckons a Rudd win at the November 24 election will be bad for the economy.Rubbish.

With the federal election campaign officially under way, the business community should start planning for the prospect of a Labor government in Canberra.

With so many of State Scene’s leftie mates looking increasingly dour as election day approaches, I’ve felt compelled to reconsider my long-held view that Labor will form the next government.

Spending on minerals exploration in Western Australia has grown strongly in the past financial year.

The Construction Mining Forestry & Energy Union’s Western Australian boss, Kevin Reynolds, said something the other day that intrigued me.

Several years ago, nearly all of State Scene’s left and right-of-centre political pals and contacts suddenly began using the term ‘urban legend’.

A friend bought a pair of shoes last week.

“A coordinated approach to common-user infrastructure development and stakeholder relations is vital to unlock the full potential of Australia’s fastest growing new iron ore province.”

This month, a page two advertisement in The West Australian, paid for by the WA Labor Party, carried a head and shoulders photograph of Liberal MP Julie Bishop, alongside a headline that read: “Is she staying? Or is she going…”

A few weeks ago I wrote about the big plans the City of Perth has and how frustrated many councillors are about any perceptions they are to blame for the current inactivity.

The price of wheat is at an all-time high, the share price of AWB Ltd (once known as the Australian Wheat Board) is at an all-time low. Why is this so?

Hats off to the Local Government Managers’ Association for pushing the debate on local government reform in a positive and constructive manner.

Regular viewers of the ABC’s Sunday morning program, Insiders, will have noted that two occasional guest commentators – Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Herald-Sun columnists, Piers Akerman and Andrew Bolt, respectively – long ago conceded Labor w

Just how important is Perth in the scheme of things?

Since about April, when Liberal strategists began realising they were unlikely to shake-off Kevin Rudd as easily as initially anticipated, they’ve resorted to using a new phrase.

There have been many headlines in recent weeks about foreign investment in Australia, especially with so many key foreign leaders in Sydney for last week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

Inverse yields in the money market are a telltale sign of a future recession and are high on the watch list of US economists.

The annual survey of major resource and infrastructure projects featured in this week’s WA Business News provides plenty of support for those who have a ‘stronger for longer’ view on the state’s economic outlook.

This week’s visit to Perth by Chinese president Hu Jintao highlighted the important role Western Australia plays in supporting the world’s powerhouse economy.

One of State Scene’s sharpest political contacts insists that spades always be called spades, never digging utensils. He won’t blindly fall into line by referring to things the way political spin doctors – of whom we have plenty – want them described and

I’ve had quite a bit of correspondence in recent weeks with City of Perth councillors regarding the various developments in the central business district.

The world’s sub-prime credit squeeze came from nowhere, a fact that will please one seasoned observer of the way economies work, Don Stammer.

Going soft is not usually an admirable trait in anyone, and certainly not when it comes to the hardheaded world of investing.

When CSIRO chief executive, Dr Geoff Garrett, visited Perth recently on the research group’s national industry roadshow, he delivered a very entertaining presentation on exponential change.

Since about April, all of State Scene’s best informants have said that the coming federal election would be held in November; in other words, later rather than sooner.

Getting answers out of people isn’t always easy.

The aftermath of a stock market correction is always a marvelous time for pondering some of the deeper investment questions, such as whether a business is better off following the

Amidst the turmoil that has engulfed global stockmarkets, one group of Western Australian investors took an unusual, almost quixotic stand last week.

When Newspoll - Australia’s most reliable measure of two-party voter mood - shows Labor running at 56 percent and Liberals at just 44, the only question left to ask is how big will the seat margin be after the dust from the coming landslide has settled.

Booming markets have all sorts of effects on an economy.