WITH the wheels falling off the high tax Howard Government one can be forgiven for having hoped for some stability within the new government West Australians so recently elected.
WITH the wheels falling off the high tax Howard Government one can be forgiven for having hoped for some stability within the new government West Australians so recently elected.
But no, already one minister has had duties drastically trimmed because of a lead foot and love of red and chardonnay.
No Hollywood soap scriptwriter could have matched the comedy of errors that finally led to Premier Geoff Gallop warning Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan that if she had another traffic infringement she’d be chauffeur driven to the backbench.
A paragraph in Ms MacTiernan’s admission statement said: “The Minister said she believed she had a duty to make public the fact that she had lost her licence.”
That apparently never included making public earlier and more serious transgressions, which Dr Gallop claimed he thought the public already knew about.
And on the day Ms MacTiernan was told she would lose Road Safety duties there were refinements to titles of two other ministers.
Clive Brown is now Minister for State Development, Tourism, Small Business, Goldfields-Esperance. For some reason tourism wasn’t mentioned earlier. Who had this task also wasn’t stated.
And Sheila McHale’s new title is, Minister for Community Development, Women’s Interests, Seniors and Youth, Disability Services, Culture and the Arts; seven responsibilities.
For some reason, Women’s Interests, Seniors and Youth, weren’t mentioned earlier. Again whoever had these wasn’t named.
Openly designating ministerial duties has become an evolving process.
The multiple responsibilities that most ministers are carrying are due, in part, to Dr Gallop’s move to have 14, not 17, ministers.
Only Health Minister Bob Kucera carries a single title.
Others have three or more, and usually in quite unrelated areas.
Dr Gallop is also Minister for Public Sector Management, Federal Affairs, Science, Citizenship and Multicultural Interests.
Why a premier should have Citizenship and Multicultural Interests is baffling. Surely these could have been rolled-up into Ms McHale’s duties.
Just why he has Public Sector Management also baffles. Could this not be assigned to Labour Relations, Employment and Training Minister, John Kobelke?
Instead, Mr Kobelke doubles as Minister for Consumer Affairs. How that’s related to workforce issues is equally baffling.
Inexplicable also is why Science has landed on Dr Gallop’s desk. Surely it sits better on Education Minister Alan Carpenter’s.
Instead, Mr Carpenter also carries Indigenous Affairs, which I’d have thought would more comfortably sit with Ms McHale’s responsibilities, especially if she had Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, which, of course, she hasn’t.
Why Deputy Premier and Treasurer Eric Ripper doubles as Energy Minister will forever remain a mystery. Being Treasurer is a crucial full-time job and earmarking Nick Griffiths as Minister Assisting the Treasurer hardly acknowledges that. And so on . . . and on.
Dr Gallop’s ministerial allocations arise from a difficult to comprehend the process of ad hocery due to Labor’s tribalist proclivity known in the corridors of power as factional balance, which results in ministerial hodge-podgery.
But let’s return to Mr Brown, who’s emerged as WA’s super-minister of real output.
His State Development portfolio – one of four – covers big-ticket items like mining, petroleum and gas. WA is now without a Minister for Mines, so named.
He also has what was Commerce and Trade, and under him also falls Resources Development.
The last Court Government had these three crucially important wealth-generating sectors under three senior ministers.
Now they’ve been rolled into one, with small business – another wealth generator – added, plus tourism - a sizeable foreign exchange earner – also thrown in.
And as if that won’t keep Mr Brown busy, he’s also been handed oversight for the Goldfields-Esperance region.
“They want to work poor Clive to death,” one MP said.
Let’s not forget Mr Brown must also attend Parliament, and between the few hours sleep he’ll hopefully get each night there’s the tiny matter of looking after Bassendean’s constituents who, after all, elected him.
Dr Gallop’s decision to have only 14 ministers was good. What wasn’t smart was portfolio allocation.
The following 11 key areas - Premier/Federal Affairs; Treasury; Resources (including water/mining); Commerce/Trade; Primary Industries; Health; Education; Police; Law; Labor and Transport – should each have one minister, only.
These are crucially important areas, directly related to or impinging upon wealth generation, meaning the material wellbeing of all West Australians.
Put bluntly, if these aren’t wisely administered WA would steadily slide into third-world status.
Ministers need time to think and contemplate, to meet departmental, local and international experts, lobbyists and pressure group representatives, and hopefully emerge with just and farsighted decisions.
The remaining three ministers could share other tasks which governments, for varying reasons, give separate oversight.
These include: environment, tourism, local government and regions, housing, works, science, community development, seniors, youth, culture, indigenous and women’s interests, racing, gaming and sport, planning, electoral and consumer affairs, with half these in a Human Services Ministry.
