News Articles for Mark McGowan

Prominent Western Australian business and government leaders, including Nev Power and Dale Alcock, will hit the streets this week to sell The Big Issue magazine as part of the not-for-profit organisation's annual awareness campaign.

Rod Culleton's replacement - his brother-in-law - as One Nation's Western Australian representative in the upper house will be a significant senator upgrade, according to the party's leader, Pauline Hanson.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan today guaranteed that, if elected in the March state poll, he would return the budget to surplus within his first term as premier.

A significant lift in private capital expenditure in the tourism sector could provide a tailwind for Western Australia's struggling economy this year, according to the author of a report released by investment bank UBS.

The state's unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points in December to 6.6 per cent as the number of women in the labour force eased slightly, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

OPINION: The WA branch of Queenslander Pauline Hanson's protest party appears set to influence the state election.

The federal government will be sticking to its guns on the Roe 8 project, Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher affirmed today, saying the $1.2 billion committed by the Commonwealth to the project would not be reallocated.

The Roe 8 road project will be cancelled if the Labor Party wins the upcoming state election, opposition leader Mark McGowan said today, even though the government has already signed a contract for construction, with $236 million of funding to be re-allocated to three alternative roads.

Opinion: A Labor state government will seek to incentivise the public sector to more energetically pursue policies.

SPECIAL REPORT: Many politicians, including senior government ministers, go through their careers as ‘grey' men or women, barely getting noticed and having little impact; the same could never be said of Brendon Grylls.

Treasurer Mike Nahan has labelled opposition leader Mark McGowan's plan to slash senior executive positions and bring in new key performance indicators as ‘not credible'.

The Barnett government is hoping to raise $3 billion by selling 51 per cent of Western Power to Australian investors, and will also use the privatisation deal to remove about $8 billion of debt off the state's books.

Unemployment in Western Australia surged last month, placing it ahead of South Australia as the worst-performing state in October.

The state election next year looks set to be a close one, with two polls this week showing conflicting shifts in popularity among the major parties.

Premier Colin Barnett has confirmed plans for an initial public offering of Western Power are on the table, while the opposition has blamed the privatisation plans for the alleged cancellation of a contract with a major supplier.

Rio Tinto has hit back at accusations by Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls that large miners had failed to live up to their contractual obligations in state agreements with the government, after he stepped up his campaign to increase taxes on iron ore production today.

Almost half of Liberal voters in Treasurer Mike Nahan's safe seat of Riverton are opposed to the proposed privatisation of utility Western Power, according to ReachTel data.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan has ruled out extending a ban on fracking beyond three regions if he wins the March state election.

WA Labor plans to ban fracking in the South West, but will not ban the drilling technique in other areas such as the Kimberley and the Mid West where it has been undertaken.

Uncertainty about the direction of the government and its leadership is likely to persist despite the premier's win last week.

Former federal ALP Member for Perth Alannah MacTiernan has been backed to return to state politics after veteran Labor MP Ken Travers announced he was quitting parliament.

Western Australia is catching up with South Australia and the Northern Territory in introducing a container deposit scheme for drink cans and bottles, likely from mid-2018.

Brendon Grylls was something of a change-agent when he got the Royalties for Regions policy implemented, but his plan to tax iron ore tonnages has business worried.

The WA Liberals can govern without the support of the Nationals, who are still deciding who will lead their party, Premier Colin Barnett says.

The Barnett government and the Labor opposition have put forward their competing plans to better protect subcontractors and ensure they are paid for their involvement on government contracts.

WA's belated adoption of changes to voter registration requirements has opened up a new challenge for the major parties ahead of the March 2017 poll.

State Development Minister Bill Marmion has told protestors outside parliament that the environmental watchdog would review the government's plan to extend the buffer zone around the Kwinana industrial area.

A decision to dump Perth's planned light rail network has dented trust in the government's transport promises ahead of next year's state election, Treasurer Mike Nahan concedes.

Unemployment rose in Western Australia last month, while the national rate held steady at 5.7 per cent, with no full-time jobs added in three months.

The Barnett government is coming under pressure from the big end of town.

Speculation about Premier Colin Barnett's leadership is being perpetuated by those who deliberately seek to undermine the government, Treasurer Mike Nahan says.

Bill Shorten is trying to woo Perth commuters with a $1 billion pledge for the Metronet urban rail project, which WA Labor says will cost $2.5 billion but the WA Liberals have labelled as pork-barrelling.

Colin Barnett may be battling the odds to make a third term, but he's certainly up for the fight.

Nationals leader Terry Redman says the party remains opposed to the sale of Fremantle Ports, despite supporting treasurer Mike Nahan's introduction today of a bill to enable a lease of up to 99 years to proceed.

Western Australia can only compete for a bigger share of defence contracts if it has a dedicated minister for defence issues, the opposition says.

A state industry plan has some positives but don't look to the past for jobs policy.

Opposition leader Mark McGowan has committed a future state Labor government to aggressively seek more defence related work for Western Australia to help compensate for the loss of construction job

Colin Barnett has made some strategic ministerial changes ahead of next year's poll.

The auditor general says the state government has made a good start on its $400 million land asset sales program but improvements could be made, following criticism earlier this week that some properties are being sold at a loss.

SPECIAL REPORT: There has been a major shift in business influence in WA amid waning international investment and, with two elections on the way, there is a prospect of even bigger changes in political influence. Click through to see our listing of WA's most infliential leaders in politics and business.