First 100 days critical for new cabinet

SOMETIMES the leader is made for a crisis, and sometimes the crisis makes the leader.

Whether or not either of those outcomes occurs is an unknown, but there's no doubt this is Premier Colin Barnett's moment to shine, and there is considerable confidence that he is up to the job.

A trained economist, Mr Barnett is experienced at the highest levels of state government. He's led an opposition through tough times and made a comeback to win an unwinnable election, giving him hero status among many Liberals and earning him some breathing space, which belies the narrowness of his poll victory.

He is also known as a thinker who is prepared to act on vision.

One nagging doubt, however, about the newly-installed leader is whether his style, regarded by many as autocratic, will serve him adequately as the head of the state government.

That is especially the case when his visionary thinking collides with a lack of consultation.

In the 2005 election, those flaws culminated in the so-called 'Colin's Canal', an uncosted concept to deliver water from the Kimberley through the parched Pilbara to the South West.

Many believe it cost the Liberals an election in which they had a strong chance.

But, as Mr Barnett knows, being in government is different.

Lost is some of the flexibility of creating a foundational project literally overnight.

What is gained, though, is the checks and balances that ought to refine big ideas into workable solutions before they are given the green light.

Whether or not the new government will have the opportunity to engage in big thinking is a moot point.

Western Australia has been billed as the growth state in a strong and stable economy.

It has bolted itself on to the China locomotive and enjoyed an unparalleled five-year boom as a consequence.

Even with the global turmoil and Chinese slow-down, the hope is WA will be largely insulated from the worst of the problems.

So who thinks there's a crisis?

Many in business firmly believe the WA position could have been so much stronger had the previous two Labor governments - those of Geoff Gallop and then Alan Carpenter - not fumbled the ball when it came to the approvals process, allowing projects to be delayed, postponed or taken elsewhere.

Perhaps they believed the hubris of many business promoters, that the Chinese boom would take us along with it for 20 years of uninterrupted growth.

Today we know differently. Those who were concerned that WA was turning away business that might be hard to win back again in the future have been vindicated.

Former Premier Richard Court is one who has publicly pointed to the decision of Japanese group Inpex to locate its LNG development near Darwin as the ultimate humiliation.

"That is simply an embarrassment," he told a recent Finsia audience.

WA is missing out on a $20 billion project, with all that spending and then ongoing employment, because of delays and a lack of decision making.

As many in the stock market are learning, the good times don't last forever and there are good reasons to keep raising fresh equity.

The same goes for projects. WA has to keep the pipeline flowing as fast as it can.

Patersons Securities analyst Alex Passmore made this point abundantly clear at a recent University of WA seminar on the meltdown.

Of $160 billion in projects in the pipeline, Mr Passmore said, projects amounting to about $25 billion don't stack up at current commodity prices.

From the industry perspective, if projects are increasingly marginal then approvals delays become just another reason to cut and run.

From a government perspective, that reduces royalty streams and employment opportunities in the longer term.

So instead of inheriting a blank canvas with full tins of paint with which to start shaping his vision, Mr Barnett's first job is to fix the problems left by the previous administration.

From an electoral and economic point of view, he doesn't have that much time. A four-year electoral cycle allows little wriggle room to get key policy implemented and having an impact.

Whoever can help him achieve that in the short-term is likely to emerge with influence in the longer term.

"They can't afford to sit on their hands," said one Liberal source.

"They have an extraordinary mandate to get things moving.

"This first 100 days before Christmas is important in setting the tenor of government."

Right now, the first part of that appears to be coming together. Mr Barnett has, after an agonising wait to gain the premiership, has moved as quickly as possible to build his government from the ground up.

Immediately surrounding him are capable parliamentarians - Kim Hames as deputy, Troy Buswell as treasurer and commerce minister, Norman Moore (mines and petroleum) and Liz Constable (education, tourism) - as well as a solid set of advisers to those key ministers (see page 18) who have already been put in place.

There is also the likely director general of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Peter Conran, whose appointment would be seen as something of a coup.

"I think the machinery is coming together," said one adviser.

"Any new government takes a while to find its feet."

On the public front, the new government has been quick to show that it is doing things.

Mr Moore's office is already crowing about its ministerial approval for Atlas Iron Ltd's Pardoo iron ore project in the Pilbara, and Mr Hames was on the front foot about resolving native title issues confronting new dredging in Port Hedland's harbour.

Mr Barnett released the government's preferred sites for LNG developments on the Kimberley coast. In the wake of Inpex that appeared to underscore that there was a new 'can-do' attitude in WA.

But sitting alongside those efforts to get things moving is the Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls, who handed Mr Barnett power on the basis of a regional spending deal which, last week, became mired in controversy.

Insiders suggest Mr Grylls and Mr Barnett are closer than the public interface suggests.

Nevertheless, a compromise outcome provides the opportunity to strengthen the hand of one of them. Arguably, in the shorter term, Mr Grylls had more to lose by compromising with the premier than vice versa.

Then again, if the Nationals fail to deliver on its promise to redirect the royalties to the regions, it probably makes it harder for either conservative party to win at the next election.

In the interim, it was a major distraction for the premier at a time when the Liberals were trying to get the wheels of government in motion.

Some give the opposition an element of credit for this.

Australian Capital Equity executive John Langoulant notes the opposition is not the disorganised rabble that so many parties are when turfed out of government, with most of Eric Ripper's front bench having served in such roles previously, eight years ago,

"They were an effective opposition then," Mr Langoulant said.

"They were a hounding opposition.

"They were not at the heels of the government, they were at the throat of the government on a daily basis."