Opinion

No boom lasts forever, but over the past week Briefcase has seen evidence that this boom really is something completely different and might, just might, live up to the expectation

An interesting aspect of what has been dubbed ‘triple-C-gate’, ‘Burkegate’, or ‘lobbygate’ by different media outlets is the expulsion of Labor high-flyers from cabinet and party ranks.

Two weeks ago I had to make a presentation to a sizeable group of businesspeople.

It’s not Brian Burke’s Panama hat that is causing so much trouble in Western Australia these days. It’s something far simpler – it’s the letter ‘b’ itself.

It’s common for those living in parliamentary democracies to forget most of their accomplished figures.

I very much appreciate state opposition leader Paul Omodei focusing attention back on the Perth foreshore.

Despair, despondency, dejection. Pick any of these ‘d’ words and it will describe the mood within the parliamentary wing of the state Liberal Party. The reason is obvious.

Astute readers will have noted my absence during the past few weeks.

This week, as a treat for its reader, Briefcase wanted to declare this page a Burke-free zone.

Western Australia’s Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry has become a much bigger issue than any observer would have predicted at the outset – or even at the start of last week.

It appears no-one has outwardly canvassed the possibilities raised by a simple, three-word question – was anyone trading?

The past three dramatic weeks of Corruption and Crime Commission hearings into the shadowy dealings of Brian Burke, Julian Grill and Noel Crichton-Browne exposed several shortcomings within Western Australia’s outdated system of governance.

Politics and investment advice are two subjects largely foreign to Briefcase.

Few would disagree that February 2007 was the month the dual questions of perceived water shortages and suspected climate change were firmly embedded onto Australia’s political stage.

The revelations at the Corruption and Crime Commission are deeply disturbing.

With the political stage now set for a federal election in October or November, and any upheaval in the upper echelons of Western Australia’s two major parties before the February 2009 state contest unlikely, a cursory look at various contenders is worthw

In 1997, gold explorer Westgold Resources bought a parcel of St Barbara shares from Perth investor, Ron Woss.

Australians are getting used to the idea of a two-speed economy, with resource-rich Western Australia and Queensland rocketing away from the southern rust-belt states.

Western Australia’s remarkable run of good economic news continued this month with the unemployment rate falling to the lowest level since official records started 30 years ago.

Regrets abound in financial markets, especially when share prices fall sharply. But what about shares that rise sharply; can anyone have regrets about that?

State Scene dislikes pooh poohers – those who, just for the heck of it, pull down everything others feel nice or comfortable about.

Conflicts of interest have been in the news lately, but mainly at the top end of town, and mainly because of internal boardroom squabbles.

Clandestine political lobbying, restrictive retail hours, “bandit trading”, petty government enforcers, jailing and hefty fine threats, phony referendums, political opportunism, and much more.

It never rains but it pours, so they say.

From 1920 until 1990, humanity faced a dangerous worldwide fraternity – the Bolsheviks – bearers of a primitive, murderous ideology whose founder, Vladimir Lenin, unfortunately, gained executive power violently in Petrograd in 1917.

Stamp duty on housing transactions is something that I have kept a weather eye on, to some degree, for the past year or two.

If you can buy a big bottle of multi-vitamins for $20 why do some people still pay $30?There is a one-word answer: ignorance.

With Labor’s leadership change over made inside 11 months of a scheduled national election, it’s most unlikely John Howard can now stand down from the position of prime minister, even if he so wished.

While the retail trading hours debate has waned for the time being, I thought I’d throw a little bit of fresh light on the subject from a personal perspective.

Perth’s overdue residential property price correction, which promises to prune 20 per cent off the value of most homes, also promises to be memorable for two other reasons – it is

Has Wesfarmers become just another tired, diversified industrial, destined for the knacker’s yard, or is it one of the best investments on the stock market, destined to disappear

Last week, State Scene highlighted new Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s ploy of copying John Howard’s interview style and approach to campaigning.