Opinion

Going soft is not usually an admirable trait in anyone, and certainly not when it comes to the hardheaded world of investing.

When CSIRO chief executive, Dr Geoff Garrett, visited Perth recently on the research group’s national industry roadshow, he delivered a very entertaining presentation on exponential change.

Amidst the turmoil that has engulfed global stockmarkets, one group of Western Australian investors took an unusual, almost quixotic stand last week.

When Newspoll - Australia’s most reliable measure of two-party voter mood - shows Labor running at 56 percent and Liberals at just 44, the only question left to ask is how big will the seat margin be after the dust from the coming landslide has settled.

Booming markets have all sorts of effects on an economy.

The aftermath of a stock market correction is always a marvelous time for pondering some of the deeper investment questions, such as whether a business is better off following the

‘Conspicuous by his absence’ is an old expression normally reserved for someone who fails to turn up at a meeting.

The past week has seen a flood of commentary and analysis focusing on the instability in global financial markets and trends in interest rates, with comparatively little attention paid to developments in the real economy.

The road transport lobbies are very close to the government, as can be observed at any social function where they lob.

While technically a South Australian company ever since taking the national rural giant Elders, Adelaide-based Futuris Corporation Ltd is a company I’ve always watched – albeit at

Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi are a long way from Perth, but they are the names of African countries that should be burning deeply into the conscience of Western Australia’

One theme emerged strongly when 10 prominent Western Australian business executives attended a WA Business News boardroom forum last week to discuss the future development of Perth – frustration at the slow pace of change.

With the survival of the Howard-Costello government looking shaky, Australians face the prospect of whizz-bang Kevin Rudd as prime minister.

Housing affordability in Perth has reached a crisis and the blame game has started in earnest.

It’s now most likely the John Howard-led Coalition will go into the election campaign well behind Kevin Rudd-led Labor.

It’s not often you get to sign off in the way that you want to, but I’m lucky enough to be doing just that.

Knowing a lot about the companies in which you invest is a good thing.

Selling assets has been a foreign concept during the boom. To do so was to risk missing the next upward leg in what has been a remarkable five years.

What is it about so many former Australian prime ministers that prompts them to look publicly foolish?

We've covered Western Australia’s venture capital scene several times over the years, often featuring the argument that there is so little of it here that it makes it difficult for those seeking capital.

Wrong place, wrong time.

The worst feature of Australia’s media is use of the gotcha ploy, resorted to so often on Canberra’s slow-news days.

John Poynton’s WA Business News Success & Leadership breakfast speech has been described as cathartic, which is a good word and appears to fit the situation well.

A long weekend on New Zealand’s beautiful south island is something I’d always recommend.

Recognising Western Australia’s brands has become something of an institution here at WA Business News, with the paper having held our survey for the past six years.

Rick Allert and Dick Carter ought to swap notes, because if they did, Mr Allert might learn something about organising a competitive takeover bid, and Mr Carter might learn someth

Spin just ain’t what it used to be. Perhaps it’s the boom. Perhaps it’s incompetence. Perhaps it’s the internet.

The latest issue of the Sydney right-of-centre journal, Quadrant, which Prime Minister John Howard regards highly, carries an editorial that considers various aspects of the ongoing debate surrounding the climate change puzzle.

If it all goes ahead, Wesfarmers’ $22 billion takeover of Coles will make a fundamental difference to Western Australian business.

Software is the stuff that makes computers run smoothly. How ironic, then, that ‘soft options’ cause business, and wider society, to run roughly.

For months there’ve been whispers that a well-heeled group inside Western Australia’s Liberal Party has been head hunting Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA and former state treasury chief, John Langoulant.

It’s not often that we bother our busy readership with self-congratulatory messages.