Carps between the Devil and the CCC in a View from the Arch

With the Premier out of the country, one could have been forgiven for predicting a quiet week in state politics. Of course, with a Corruption and Crime Commission trial running, things could never be that simple.

Corruption and Crime Commission

Premier Alan Carpenter cut short a 10-day trade and investment mission to India this week after one negative revelation too many in this week's CCC hearings.

This week it was Environment Minister Tony McRae, appointed two months ago in the CCC-inspired reshuffle that saw former Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich lose her position, in the firing line over decisions he made when serving as Minister assisting the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure.

The CCC heard that Mr McRae made a decision that would have been detrimental to Terana Holdings, a client of the now even more infamous lobbyists Brian Burke and Julian Grill.

The company employed Mr Burke and Mr Grill to lobby the government into overturning the decision, which Mr McRae later did.

The CCC then heard that on October 11 last year, just two days after signing off on the revised decision, Mr McRae spoke with Mr Grill on the phone but pretended he had not yet considered the matter.

In the same conversation, Mr McRae asked Mr Grill's advice about a fundraising event he was organising which was not selling enough tickets. "I just wanted to bounce it off someone I knew I could trust," he said.

Mr McRae then accepted Mr Grill's offer of help to organise another fundraiser.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Phil Urquhart accused Mr McRae of "stringing Mr Grill along" so Mr Grill would be more likely to help him organise a fundraiser if he thought the Terana decision was still pending and wanted to curry favour.

Mr McRae disagreed, saying he "rejected absolutely" the assertion he had lied to Mr Grill so he would be more likely to help him.

Earlier in the week, ALP backbencher Shelley Archer was brought before the CCC for forwarding a letter from a government minister to Mr Burke.

However Ms Archer defended herself before the media, saying it was no specific favour to Mr Burke, and that she had supplied the letter to a number of her constituents.

But the biggest loser so far this week was Opposition Consumer Protection spokesman Anthony Fels, who lost his shadow portfolio this week after it came to light that the state Liberals' own well-connected lobbyist - former Senator Noel Crichton-Browne - had written a parliamentary speech and motion for the upper house MP that favoured litigation funder IMF Ltd - also one of Burke's clients.

The speech, delivered verbatim by Mr Fels, backed a push by IMF for the Government to compensate victims of the Finance Brokers scandal.

After dumping him from cabinet, Opposition Leader Paul Omodei labelled Mr Fels' actions unacceptable.

"It's totally inappropriate for any Member of Parliament to present the views of a paid lobbyist as their own," he said.

Mr Carpenter is due back in Perth this afternoon, but is not expected to announce a decision today. He was not the only MP away from home this week.

Mr Howard comes to visit ...

Prime Minister John Howard touched down in Perth on Monday, with Cabinet in tow, for their first meeting on this side of the Nullarbor since 1997 - the days of Fischer, Reith and Alston.

Of course, it wasn't only the Cabinet meeting room table at the WA Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices that got a workout this week, with Mr Howard pressing the flesh in small business meetings, retirement homes and party fundraisers from Gosnells to Wangara.

It was, according to ALP state secretary Bill Johnston, a fundraising stunt.

"If John Howard had the interests of Western Australia at heart, he'd give us money for the national water initiative, he'd increase our roads funding and he'd provide a coastguard," Mr Johnston said.

While the coastguard - a fundamental part of former ALP policy - wasn't forthcoming, Mr Howard did use the time to make a series of funding announcements for Western Australians. These included:

• Cash payments for people who had lost their homes in this month's fires - $1000 for each adult and $400 for every child
• Making drought afflicted farmers in shires including parts of Murchison, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Menzies through to Esperance, Kondinin, Mullewa and Chapman Valley eligible
• A $4 million Special Air Service training and research centre to be set up in Perth

He also charmed the students of Balcatta Senior High School, with an announcement of an extra $180 million in federal funding for schools across the nation for repairs and upgrades - 70 per cent of which is to be spent in the public school system.

and he's joined by Mr Rudd

Of course, Mr Howard wasn't the only party leader making a trip west this week, with Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd changing his travel plans to visit Perth with a few ideas of his own.

While the Premier wasn't in town for the appropriate photo opportunities, Mr Rudd nonetheless had out the potential chequebook, saying a Labor government would give Western Australia $100 million every year in royalties from the Gorgon gas project - 25 per cent of the total - for a water and infrastructure fund.

Mr Howard dismissed the proposal, saying he did not believe earmarking funding allocations based on geographic location was good national economic policy.

"Other states would argue that they should have some kind of particular deal and you will find resentment building in other parts of the country, which is undesirable," he said.

No GST funds for WA

Speaking of particular deals, Treasurer Peter Costello announced on Thursday that Western Australia's share of funding from the Goods and Services Tax would by cut by up to $1 billion in the next four years.

"WA doesn't need to be a recipient," he said.

"It doesn't need donations from other states because WA's finances, particularly with a booming property market, are on a much stronger basis."

A Bright Idea

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull shed some light on a new environmental issue this week with the announcement of a Federal Government plan to phase out common incandescent lightbulbs within three years, to be replaced by energy-efficient compact fluorescents.

According to the government, 95 per cent of energy used by standard light bulbs is wasted, with the introduction of the new measure having the potential to reduce emissions by as much as 800,000 tonnes per year.

Water Resources

But the major environmental topic, for another week, was water resources.

Mr Howard and four of the five state and territory leaders came to an agreement today on the Commonwealth's $10 billion plan for the Murray-Darling basin, with Victoria refusing to hand over control of its river system.

Control over the river in South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory will be handed to an independent commission chaired by a five-person expert panel, with the policy to be reviewed in 2014.

Mr Howard said the Commonwealth would continue talks with Victoria about its concerns.

Meanwhile, in Western Australia, both sides of federal politics scrambled to grab the upper hand in solving the state's water crisis.

Mr Rudd got going straight away, making a pledge on Monday morning to contribute $15 million to the state's wter management plans and almost $16 million to the Gnangara Mound water acquifer project.

The Gnangara project would see 1.5 billion litres of treated waste water undergoing further treatment before being pumped into the Leederville aquifer on the Gnangara Mound, an underground water body which provides Perth with around 70 per cent of its requirements and supports a multi-million dollar agricultural industry.

But by Thursday Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull had announced his strategy, for a $30.7 million funding package for six major water projects.

The centrepiece of Mr Turnbull's strategy is a $15.7 million funding package to the Beenyup reverse osmosis groundwater project, which will involve treatment of water from the Beenyup wastewater treatment plant in Craigie. The treated wastewater would then be injected into the Leederville aquifer at a location remote from existing drinking water bores.

The remaining money would go to development of statutory water planning in the state's four highest priority water systems - the Pilbara, Gnangara Mound, South West WA and Collie Catchment.

The final word

In a week when marginal Liberal seat-holder Michael Keenan welcomed the Prime Minister to Balga Senior High School in front of students and attending media at Balcatta SHS, the final word must go to another fine public speaker, NSW Premier Morris Iemma.

Launching his campaign for the return of the NSW Labor Party to government, the Premier summed up his party's approach to their almost 12 years in government with the slogan "More to do, but we're heading in the right direction."

On the up, one hopes.