The WA Parliament is navel gazing this week, while Santo Santoro looks for a new job, Beattie looks for uranium as Carpenter looks away and the Federal Government stares daggers at Rudd's broadband policy.
While the sad tale of an unwell footballer and the sadder tale of a murdered cricket coach dominated much of the headlines this week, the WA parliament was applying all the bandaids it could to the festering sores uncovered in the Corruption and Crime Commission hearings.
Bowler, McRae face committee
As we go to print, the parliament's Procedures and Privileges Committee is holding an inquiry into the leaking by former minister John Bowler of a confidential report from the Economics and Industry Standing Committee to his friend, lobbyist Julian Grill.
The report, into the closure of the Windimurra Vanadium mine, was passed on to Precious Metals Australia boss Roderick Smith, who suggested changes to the report which later helped his company win a $20 million law suit against Swiss-based company Xstrata, the CCC alleged.
The chair of the EISC, former Environment Minister Tony McRae, today denied knowing Mr Bowler had leaked the report, saying although the then-backbencher had been a member of the committee which he chaired, he had no idea about Mr Bowler's dealings with the lobbyist.
Mr Bowler was due to face the committee this afternoon.
Meanwhile, former Opposition Consumer Protection Spokesman Anthony Fels stood down from the Legislative Council's standing committee on Estimates and Financial Operations, on which he sat with controversial Labor backbencher Shelley Archer, while he is investigated for possible wrongdoing in his dealings with Liberal Party powerbroker-turned-lobbyist Noel Crichton-Browne.
The upper house had earlier agreed to hold an inquiry to investigate whether either Mr Fels or Ms Archer had tried to influence the committee at the behest of lobbyists.
The committee was at the time discussing whether to establish an inquiry into the iron ore industry, which, if it had proceeded, may have benefited one of Mr Burke and Mr Crichton-Browne's clients.
If the inquiry finds them guilty of contempt of parliament they could face censure, fines or even expulsion from parliament.
In a move reminiscent of Senator Ian Campbell's departure from the Federal Cabinet, an announcement from WA Liberal leader Paul Omodei's office said Mr Fels had decided to stand aside from the committee "because he did not want the Labor Party to use him as a defensive shield."
No punches pulled by Hammond
Bringing a lighter note to the proceedings was departing CCC Commissioner Kevin Hammond, who told an Institute of Public Administration Australia Conferance this week that holders of public office wouldn't recognise a conflict of interest if it "kicked them in the backside".
"Unfortunately, there still appear to be people holding public office whose practices have not kept up with the changing, and I believe, increasing expectations of our community," he said.
"This is very concerning to me and should be to you."
Local Government amendments passed
The State Government took one move to address that issue this week with the passing of an amendment to the Local Government Act, which has introduced a disciplinary process for elected members.
Under the amendment, which had gathered dust in the Legislative Council since March 2005, elected members will be held to a uniform code of conduct. This will be enforced by a standards panel with the power to censure members and order them to apologise or undertake training.
Serious breaches of the Local Government Act or Regulations would be referred to the State Administrative Tribunal, which will have the power to suspend or disqualify an elected member.
Lobbyists Register announced
In addition to this measure, Premier Alan Carpenter announced the establishment of a lobbyist register telling members it was a "deliberately minimalist" step in regulating the sector.
The register requires lobbyists to list their business registration details, details of employees and names of clients, to be updated every three months.
No Minister, Ministerial staffer, parliamentary secretary or public sector employee will be permitted to have professional contact with an unregistered lobbyist, with the register to be administered by the Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
The register will only apply to lobbyists who are hired by third parties to represent them, though Brian Burke, Mr Grill and Mr Crichton-Browne will not be permitted to list.
Representatives of business groups, trade unions, religious and charitable bodies, as well as recognised professional and technical occupations will not be required to join the register.
Independent MP Liz Constable said the code was flawed, giving too much power to the Director-General, and leaving the way open for backbenchers to consult with unregistered lobbyists.
Santo's Clause is coming to town
Speaking of inappropriate dealings, new Federal Minister for Ageing Christopher Pyne says he'll receive a report today into former minister Santo Santoro's allocation of aged care beds.
Mr Pyne's department is examining the awarding of 94 bed licences to Russell Egan jnr, a Queensland Liberal Party friend of Senator Santoro who is behind a yet-to-be-built nursing home on the Gold Coast.
Industry figures have alleged proper process was not followed, but Mr Egan firmly denies any impropriety.
Senator Santoro announced he would resign from the Senate at the end of the current session of parliament on Thursday next week, after failing to declare 72 shareholdings until last week.
ALP broadband
But further recriminations over the Senator's activities were overshadowed this week by the release of Federal Labor's plan to construct a $4.7 billion national high-speed broadband network.
Under the plan, Labor will sell up to $2.7 billion worth of Telstra shares held in the Future Fund to help pay for the project.
Prime Minister John Howard made clear his opposition to the sale, labelling the plan reckless and saying there was no greater challenge to Australia than its aging population.
But Labor Finance spokesman Lindsay Tanner said profits from Labor's proposed $4.7 billion broadband investment would be ploughed back into the Future Fund.
And the party, in government, would not touch the capital amount in the fund placed there to cover huge commonwealth superannuation liabilities, he said.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile told Parliament the plan may be underfunded.
"When the Labor Party talks about investing $4.7 billion to cover the country in broadband, they should be reminded that it cost South Korea $50 billion to cover a country that is one-third the size of the new electorate of Flynn - $50 billion to do what the Labor Party is proposing to do," he said.
A quick word on uranium
Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has announced a change of heart in his uranium policy, putting pressure on Mr Carpenter to do the same. For an article on the issue, click HERE.
The last word
In a week where Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Alannah MacTiernan and Shadow Attorney-General Sue Walker compared each other to cane toads, the final word must go to Treasurer Eric Ripper, and his comments about another Eastern States import - Daylight Saving.
Reminding Western Australians to turn back their clocks on Sunday morning, the Treasurer couldn't resist having a dig at recent opposition to the idea.
Arch quotes directly from an announcement sent out from the Treasurer's office on Thursday.
The Deputy Premier said Private Members Bills from Matt Birney and Brendan Grylls were a waste of time, reminding people that the Legislative Council took a ridiculous 13 hours to debate the issue last time.
Arch isn't certain what to make of that comment. It would be nice to think that members of the Legislative Council took time in that debate to consider all the issues and make up their minds individually.
Of course, some MLCs have other people to do that for them.
But if the Treasurer thinks a 13 hour debate is ridiculous, Arch wonders what adjective he would apply to the two-year delay in getting a code of conduct for Local Government passed through the parliament passed through the Upper House.
After all, the CCC hearings arose from allegations of impropriety in Busselton, Cockburn and Wanneroo.
At this juncture, a thesaurus sure would come in handy.
