Opinion

‘Conspicuous by his absence’ is an old expression normally reserved for someone who fails to turn up at a meeting.

The past week has seen a flood of commentary and analysis focusing on the instability in global financial markets and trends in interest rates, with comparatively little attention paid to developments in the real economy.

The road transport lobbies are very close to the government, as can be observed at any social function where they lob.

While technically a South Australian company ever since taking the national rural giant Elders, Adelaide-based Futuris Corporation Ltd is a company I’ve always watched – albeit at

With the survival of the Howard-Costello government looking shaky, Australians face the prospect of whizz-bang Kevin Rudd as prime minister.

Housing affordability in Perth has reached a crisis and the blame game has started in earnest.

Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi are a long way from Perth, but they are the names of African countries that should be burning deeply into the conscience of Western Australia’

One theme emerged strongly when 10 prominent Western Australian business executives attended a WA Business News boardroom forum last week to discuss the future development of Perth – frustration at the slow pace of change.

It’s now most likely the John Howard-led Coalition will go into the election campaign well behind Kevin Rudd-led Labor.

It’s not often you get to sign off in the way that you want to, but I’m lucky enough to be doing just that.

Knowing a lot about the companies in which you invest is a good thing.

What is it about so many former Australian prime ministers that prompts them to look publicly foolish?

We've covered Western Australia’s venture capital scene several times over the years, often featuring the argument that there is so little of it here that it makes it difficult for those seeking capital.

Selling assets has been a foreign concept during the boom. To do so was to risk missing the next upward leg in what has been a remarkable five years.

Wrong place, wrong time.

The worst feature of Australia’s media is use of the gotcha ploy, resorted to so often on Canberra’s slow-news days.

John Poynton’s WA Business News Success & Leadership breakfast speech has been described as cathartic, which is a good word and appears to fit the situation well.

A long weekend on New Zealand’s beautiful south island is something I’d always recommend.

Recognising Western Australia’s brands has become something of an institution here at WA Business News, with the paper having held our survey for the past six years.

Rick Allert and Dick Carter ought to swap notes, because if they did, Mr Allert might learn something about organising a competitive takeover bid, and Mr Carter might learn someth

The latest issue of the Sydney right-of-centre journal, Quadrant, which Prime Minister John Howard regards highly, carries an editorial that considers various aspects of the ongoing debate surrounding the climate change puzzle.

If it all goes ahead, Wesfarmers’ $22 billion takeover of Coles will make a fundamental difference to Western Australian business.

Spin just ain’t what it used to be. Perhaps it’s the boom. Perhaps it’s incompetence. Perhaps it’s the internet.

Software is the stuff that makes computers run smoothly. How ironic, then, that ‘soft options’ cause business, and wider society, to run roughly.

For months there’ve been whispers that a well-heeled group inside Western Australia’s Liberal Party has been head hunting Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA and former state treasury chief, John Langoulant.

It’s not often that we bother our busy readership with self-congratulatory messages.

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.

State Scene remains bamboozled by the failure of successive state governments to tap the Wellington Dam’s huge stock of water.

This is a bit of a ritual for me. Every year we have our Most Influential list, which follows a long period of discussion and consultation.

Anyone watching the Australian stock market for the past few weeks could not avoid the feeling that it’s been bouncing across a ceiling, unable to get much higher, and looking ext

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.

It’s becoming increasingly evident that the federal opposition is headed by two individuals with quite different left-of-centre visions for Australia.