Joseph Poprzeczny

The morning after federal Liberal MP Dennis Jensen was disendorsed by his party’s Tangney preselection panel for a former federal ministerial staffer originally from South Australia, State Scene was telephoned by an interstate journalist who got straight

Towards the end of last month, State Scene was invited to a salubrious business lunch that was attended by a state Liberal MP, who quite promptly made it clear he was factionally unaligned.

State Scene, like most, prefers to be at the head of any queue, especially those slow-moving ones at banks and post offices.

State Scene has an answer for those wondering what some former Australian prime ministers, ambassadors and even top spies do in retirement – they can become global consultants.

Ask any Western Australian-based engineer – electrical, structural, mechanical, civil, or another speciality branch – about their industry’s current vibrancy and you’re likely to hear Paul Keating’s famous quip: “This is as good as it gets”.

For the past two years, parents well-known to State Scene have received a $300-plus bill from an Australian university student union that, if not paid, would have resulted in their child not being permitted to undertake tertiary studies.

The latest silly fracas between the nation’s two top Liberals – Prime Minister John Howard and his deputy Peter Costello – over who’ll be king of the castle highlights several troubling features within Liberal ranks.

Even though it’s still several months before Liberals in Western Australia preselect their 2007 federal election senate team, moves have well and truly begun to determine which names will be in the top three spots on the party’s ticket.

Ask any active Western Australian Liberal who their party’s ultimate movers and shakers are and you’ll be told it’s the triumvirate of senators Ian Campbell and Chris Ellison and their man in Perth, Matthias Cormann, who was a former staffer of Court gove