Special Report: New spheres of influence

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

THERE has to be some advantage in being the only chink in otherwise wall-to-wall Labor governments across Australia.

POLITICS wouldn't be the same without ideological differences, even within the governing party.

STRATEGY, psychology, risk assessment - the card game of bridge sounds like the perfect accompaniment to the political career of David Wawn.

THE inner court of Colin Barnett is a small and select group, according to those that watch government closely.

IF media attention and headlines are anything to go by, then Brendon Grylls is very much the most influential of the new ministry surrounding Premier Colin Barnett.