Opinion

Last week, State Scene surveyed the opening moves by key Liberal Party financial boffins to ensure their party will soon tap into what's called state public funding of parties.

That dreaded M-word has reappeared within Liberal Party ranks.

Some Perth investors with an eye on BHP Billiton will be hoping for an insight into the company when they toddle along to its annual meeting in Perth tomorrow (Friday November 25)

I had an interesting experience the other day when I found myself in a room of people who were bitterly opposed to John Howard's proposed industrial relations changes.

It's a shame that Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay are not writing any more of their Yes Minister books.

I had a discussion one evening earlier this week about the philanthropy in the US.

President George W Bush's decision to militarily engage America's sworn Middle Eastern enemies at the head of a ‘coalition of the willing' has resulted in numerous unexpected outcomes, not all of which are welcomed by his dogmatic critics.

To list, or not to list? That is the question facing Australian resource company executives as they contemplate doing business in the capital of mining finance, London.

SINCE the day I joined WA Business News I have been asked constantly, ‘when are you going daily'? The reply to that has been consistent. We are never going to do that, at least not as a newspaper.

State Scene realises the most common school debating topic after whether capital punishment should be re-introduced is whether compulsory voting should be abolished.

A view has begun to emerge around State Parliament and the major political parties that the Gallop government is approaching a fork in the road.

Peak Oil is a hot topic in the petroleum business, and one that worries government because of the pain being felt at the bowser by voters.

The Gallop government's move to streamline the approvals process for resources developments is a welcome, albeit belated response to a critical issue in this state – making sure we maximise benefit from the boom we are experiencing.

The recently released 480-plus-page report on Joondalup Council is a quizzical document.

TAKING the moral high ground can be a very expensive business, as the innocent small shareholders of Consolidated Minerals are discovering.

I had the pleasure of chairing a panel session for our recent Success & Leadership event, The Modern Entrepreneur in WA. The event kicked off the 2006 WA Business News 40under40 Awards by bringing together four previous winners from the program to discuss

What's wrong with this equation?

The resignation from state cabinet of Bob Kucera may well provide a boost for young Liberal leader Matt Birney, but it signals just how difficult we make it for our politicians to be normal these days.

Last week's bagging of junior minister Bob Kucera's scalp wasn't a day too soon for Liberal leader Matt Birney, since a consensus was emerging within party ranks that, while he'd made a fairly good start in February, little had happened since to cheer up

Last week, State Scene was fortunate to sneak a look at what could become Western Australia's non-metropolitan lower house electoral boundaries at the 2009 election.

Big fish in Perth's small corporate pond pay a high price when they move to deeper waters.

John Howard is one of the canniest politicians in the business and his proposed reform of industrial relations has his textbook approach written all over it.

History, like life in general, can be most unkind to some people. Put otherwise, it can be kinder, much kinder, to some while not so to others.

Every speculator dreams of a 10-bagger, that legendary stock market winner that delivers a profit of 10 times the outlay.

Matt Birney's Liberal Party manifesto announced at the weekend marks a key point in his fledging leadership.While publicity about his plan was largely overwhelmed by the news of new bombings in Bali, there were several initiatives of interest to business

It's not every day that a new, and successful, investment theory emerges.

I don't normally pick up on issues raised by politicians campaigning for their slice of the funding pie, but I was intrigued by the efforts of Greenough MLA Grant Woodhams who raised the vision of the Indian Ocean Drive in State Parliament last week.

By now, most politicians will have marked their favourite Mark Latham diary quotation. Mine was his remark about Labor's Kevin Rudd: “If he grew up in poverty in rural Queensland where did the posh accent come from?”

Hardly a year passes without a new development that focuses on the loss of Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, off Carnarvon, on November 19 1941.

THE experts say that a glass (or two) of wine a day is good for your health.

One thing I am not an expert on is technology. I struggle with any new piece of equipment and probably only ever use 10 per cent of the capabilities of the gizmos that I own.

HAD Mark Pownall (WA Business News, September 15, Opinion) contacted me to talk the issue through rather than simply quoting from our brief media release, I would have pointed out just how dirty (i