The winds of change in View from the Arch

For those who missed last week's late-breaking View from the Arch, it can be found here.

Apologies for the lateness of this article - the news of changes to electoral boundaries played havoc with Arch's scheduling.

While the Prime Minister compared child abuse in indigenous communities with Hurricane Katrina, a strong gust blew Julian Grill out of the ALP, changing winds threaten to leave Neale Fong with a bad expression and a fresh breeze is due in WA's Upper House.

Child Abuse in Indigenous Communities

Last Friday's announcement of Federal Government plans for intervention in Northern Territory indigenous communities to stamp out child abuse dominated the federal political scene for much of the week, with Prime Minister John Howard labelling the situation Australia's Hurricane Katrina.

"Many Australians, myself included, looked aghast at the failure of the American federal system of government to cope adequately with Hurricane Katrina and the human misery and lawlessness that engulfed New Orleans in 2005," Mr Howard said in a speech to the Sydney Institute.

"We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina, here and now.

"It's largely been hidden from the public - in part by a permit system in the NT that kept communities out of view and out of mind."

Part of the solution, it was decided, would be bans on alcohol and pornography, the quarantining of welfare payments, abolition of the Aboriginal permit system and mobilising extra police and troops to keep order in remote communities.

Those extra police were to come from the States, with each one asked to send 10 police officers to assist - a move that Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter refused to make.

"We introduced a program to deliver police stations and police protection in those communities and I'm not going to jeopardise that because John Howard demands we send our police to another jurisdiction," Mr Carpenter told reporters in Perth.

"If we get to the point where we can identify that we can have 10 - or even less spare police officers - then we can negotiate with the federal government about deploying them elsewhere."

For the record, New South Wales and Victoria promised 10, South Australia promised 5 and Tasmania promised 2, claiming 10 was too high a number for the state's 1,200-strong police force.

After originally baulking at the request, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie agreed to make 10 Queensland police officers available on Tuesday, in return for federal government funds to expand police accommodation in five remote indigenous Queensland communities.

Sticking to his guns, Mr Carpenter announced yesterday he would send advisers to assist, saying the 2002 inquiry into indigenous child sexual abuse had given the state great experience in how to deal with child abuse.

But National Indigenous Council Chair Sue Gordon, who chaired the 2002 inquiry, begged to differ - saying children had not been given the priority they deserved in Western Australia.

She was joined by Shadow Child Protection Minister Robin McSweeney, who pointed to news of 26 new cases of sexually transmitted diseases in children in the past 11 weeks.

"This makes 833 notifications of sexually transmitted diseases in children during Alan Carpenter's term of government," Mrs McSweeney said.

"How many times do I have to call for the Carpenter Government to fully implement the Gordon Inquiry recommendations?"

Grill expelled

While not a recommendation, certainly a long-held desire of many members of the Parliamentary WA Labor Party was realised this week when lobbyist Julian Grill was expelled from the party for making a $5,000 donation to the Nationals, which he said was made on behalf of a client.

The Premier had called on Mr Grill to resign or face expulsion four months ago after a corruption probe revealed the extent of his, and disgraced former premier Mr Burke's, influence over state public officials.

He had been found guilty of contempt of the Western Australian parliament last week for accepting a confidential leaked document from his friend, then Labor minister John Bowler.

Opposition Leader Paul Omodei accused the party of acting despicably, from their reason for dumping the former Labor minister, to their reaction to his expulsion.

Labor should have expelled Mr Grill for contempt of parliament after he accepted a leaked report from a former WA government minister, not for making a donation, he added.

"To suggest that you would expel members because they gave donations to the National party is a disgrace," he said.

"They just completely ignored Julian Grill's contempt of the parliament - that should have been the reason for his expulsion, not for the donations.

"I make no apology for him but the way the Labor party has handled it is disgraceful."

For his part, Nationals state leader Brendon Grylls said he did not know why Mr Grill made a donation.

But, Mr Grylls said, Mr Grill contacted politicians in the lead-up to the last state election on behalf of energy company clients.

Meanwhile, the membership by Labor's candidate for Kim Beazley's seat of Brand, Gary Gray - of Liberal Party fundraising organisation the 500 club was not considered in the same league.

ALP State Secretary Bill Johnston told Western Australian reporters that Mr Gray had never personally paid for any fundraising events, which were attended as part of his role as Corporate Affairs director at Woodside.

On the other hand, he said, Mr Grill had paid his donation via personal cheque, and said he was later reimbursed.

The Premier is standing behind Mr Gray, saying there was no comparison between the two cases.

Bits and Pieces

• Former lobbyist Brian Burke's contact with Health Department Director-General Neale Fong was back in the spotlight, with the commencement of a parliamentary inquiry into whether the communication had lead to misconduct. The Opposition had called the impartiality of lawyer Ken Petit, who is heading the inquiry, into question after it was revealed he was the partner of of Michelle Reynolds, the assistant director-general for public sector management in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. The Corruption and Crime Commission has since announced it will undertake an investigation into the matter.
• Liberal upper house backbencher Margaret Rowe resigned this week, after being found in contempt of the Parliament for missing more than six sitting days without approved leave. The ABC reports wheat farmer Brian Ellis is the front runner to replace her, following a countback of the 2005 votes by the Western Australian Electoral Commission.
• And the Labor Party's Federal Executive has delayed a decision on the expulsion of Western Australian union official Joe McDonald, saying another weekis needed to ensure there is no interference with a court case involving the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union deputy secretary.

The final word

In a week where Democrats Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja co-hosted on Channnel Ten's 9am With David and Kim, and outdid many other politicians on daytime TV by not making a fool of herself, the final word goes to Peter Costello and the findings of the 2006 Census.

Along with reporting the startling news that teenage boys aren't overly likely to do the housework and more men than women live in the mining shire of Wiluna, came the news that the Australian population is likely to reach 21 million within the next few days.

Mr Costello said the country should not stop at 21 million, and that a nation the size of Australia could accommodate a large number of people.

The national population had increased 6 per cent since the 2001 census, with Australia's declining birth rate being reversed, something he attributed to the introduction of pro-family policies by the Federal Government.

"I gave moral encouragement at the time to have one for Mum, one for Dad and one for the country," he said.

"Something appears to have worked because this 2006 Census shows a turnaround in the number of births in Australia."

When asked to comment on the birth rate on 9am With David and Kim, Mr Costello said the nation was in the middle of a baby boom.

"You realise we're actually talking about sex now," host Kim Watkins said.

"No, babies," Mr Costello said.

"You can't have one (baby) without it (sex)," Watkins' co-host David Reyne remarked.

"Let's not go there," Mr Costello said.

Arch, quite frankly, doesn't much want to go there either.