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THE All Ordinaries is at levels approaching 3,500 and Colin Barnett is premier of Western Australia.

I THINK it was Keith Suter who compared the global financial crisis to a 'big weekend' - too much to drink on Saturday, hangover on Sunday, cleansed and ready for work on Monday, the social commentator told a recent Technology and Industry Advisory Counci

NEXT year may be the year of the insolvency practitioner but the sector was certainly gearing up for business in 2008 as the older hands of the sector recognised the signs of a stumbling bull market.

I WAS pleasantly surprised to see a job vacancy advertised in the window of a restaurant last week.

AT first it seemed Western Australia, riding the mining boom, was digging a hole all the way to China.

THIS is State Scene's eighth year-in-review column and, like the first, it features a change of government.

WHEN Alcoa of Australia announced that it was embarking on a joint venture to develop the $100 million Warro gas project north of Perth, it underscored the biggest business issue of 2008 - energy security.

THE global credit crunch effectively put the brakes on the Western Australian property market during the latter part of 2008, limiting sales volumes and hampering the development of new projects.

AN already strained rock lobster industry took another hit late this year as new Fisheries Minister Norman Moore introduced strict limitations to an already tightly controlled field.

RIO Tinto will cut 14,000 jobs, slash its 2009 capital spending from $9 billion to $4 billion and increase asset sales in order to reduce its $38.9 billion debt by a further $10 billion by the end of

The Western Australian Trade Enquiry Service is operated by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA with the support of the WA Government's Department of Industry and Resources.

SWEEPING changes have occurred at WA Newspapers Holdings this month, with a number of arrivals at the state's biggest media outlet and publisher of The West Australian.

THE million dollar renovations to The Western Australian Club's St Georges Terrace home have been unveiled, with the fresh look hoping to breathe new life into the 115-year-old private facility.

UWA Professor Peter Quinn has been appointed the director of a new $20 million radio astronomy research centre, headquartered at UWA.

A SPATE of mergers in the property valuations sector could be a sign of things to come, as the downturn in the property market forces greater consolidation within the sector.

Mount Magnet South non-executive director Fred McMurray has been issued with 4 million convertible notes at a total cost of $200,000, with each note holding a conversion price of five cents each.

LAST year, in a deal which was value destroying for the shareholders of base metal miner Oxiana Limited, that company merged with Zinifex Ltd to become Oz Minerals.

Port Hedland consortium named THE state government has selected a consortium comprising Satterley Property, Leighton Contractors and Ngarda Civil and Mining as the preferred proponent to investigate t

THE buying and selling of securities by directors appears to have softened as the year draws to an end, but not without some last-minute grabs.

THE number of housing finance commitments in Western Australia rose 5 per cent for the month of October, seasonally adjusted, compared to the previous month, but remains almost 20 per cent down on the

Four years after winning a boardroom stoush, St Barbara chief executive and managing director Eduard Eshuys has tendered his resignation with former Newcrest Mining executive Tim Lehany to take over.

The state opposition is calling on the government to release the royalties for regions formula after some of the needier regions, such as Halls Creek, were allocated less money.

The Australian stock market closed slightly higher today but investors ignored a big lead from United States markets, instead taking an axe to some major banks.

Cape Lambert executive chairman Tony Sage has bought a 6 per cent stake in mining minnow Jackson Minerals for $150,000 cash.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia had terminated a share placement agreement with Merrill Lynch following confusion over its $2 billion capital raising launched last night.

Amid a backdrop of falling base metal prices, Northbridge-based Impact Minerals says it will focus on its Nowthunna uranium joint venture in Western Australia following the state government's decision to lift the uranium mining ban.

Perth-based Indo Mines has secured a $5 million financing facility with Anglo Pacific Group for its $860 million Indonesian project.

Shares in Mount Gibson Iron have jumped 40 per cent on the government's approval for two Chinese companies to subscribe and underwrite a $162.5 million capital raising.

The state government will ask the private sector to submit proposals for the expansion of Exmouth Boat Habour, which is increasingly catering for super-yachts and ideally placed to service the oil and gas industry.

Redbank Mines has listened to the advice of its largest shareholder, Michael Kiernan, with the spinout of its Fiji project into a separate, dedicated gold vehicle.

Subiaco-based Rox Resources has entered into an agreement with a Chinese minerals company for the majority sale of its Myrtle zinc-lead project for $12.5 million cash.

The Australian sharemarket extended the morning's positive gains at noon, buoyed by gains in the materials sector.