Peter Kennedy

The hard sell of this year’s federal and state budgets will test the advocacy skills of our leading politicians.

The premier has been slow to act on the anachronism that is the Potato Marketing Corporation, but a bucket load of federal money might force his hand.

With their leaders unpopular, and trailing in the polls, the governments in Perth and Canberra are banking on getting it right in their May budgets.

The economic rationale behind the plan may be sound, but the prime minister and WA premier need to tread carefully when it comes to closing remote communities.

While acknowledging the issue of patient safety, Labor’s attack on delays at Fiona Stanley Hospital are equally concerned with the privatisation of services.

Colin Barnett aimed low when Labor questioned Dean Nalder’s fitness for office over conflict of interest claims.

Colin Barnett’s decision to run up the white flag after his six-year campaign to rationalise the number of metropolitan local councils is effectively an admission that his strategy was flawed. It is also a triumph for self-interest.

Succession remains an issue for the state government, with none of the contenders to take over from Colin Barnett the finished product.

Colin Barnett is in for his biggest test as premier in 2015, as mounting financial woes threaten to drain his political capital.