In your editorial of June 24, rightly paying tribute to Michael Chaney’s great achievement, you remind us that in 1994 Western Australia was an international joke and viewed as corporately corrupt.
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But perhaps even more damaging, it was viewed as politically corrupt. Indeed the line between corporate and political corruption was hard to draw. Those who worked to draw attention to this, and who finally forced a Royal Commission, such as Patrick O’Brien, Martyn Webb, Bevan Lawrence and Max Evans deserve the thanks of us all.
But the great credit for restoring WA’s international political, and therefore corporate, standing must go to Richard Court.
It was a Herculean achievement for the Court Government when one considers how bad was the cesspool WA had fallen into, and people should be reminded of just how great that achievement was.
If he had done nothing else, Richard Court would deserve to be ranked for this with Lord Forrest, Sir James Mitchell, Sir David Brand and Sir Charles Court as one of WA’s truly great premiers and achievers.
Hal Colebatch
Nedlands
