Opinion

MOST of us have either read or know about George Orwell’s prescient and terrifying novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which highlights Big Brother Government, an all-knowing, all-powerful overseer.

TEN years ago the newly elected Court-Cowan Government received a report from a team headed by CRA’s former chief, Sir Roderick Carnegie.

THE Australian Shareholders Association’s battle against what it sees as inappropriate options packages is not just reserved for monster corporations such as Southcorp.

WHILE State Scene rarely bothers analysing parliamentary answers there’s always the chance of an exception arising...

ABOUT this time last year we published a major feature on the Burrup –depicting the development plans for the North West peninsula as being on a knife edge.

LAST week State Scene highlighted South Australia’s recent Constitutional Convention...

IT has been fascinating to read some of the reports on Perth as a place to live and work in recent times.

ASK any West Aussie if they’re living in a democracy and, Sydney-to-a-brick they’ll say, yes.

Free at last JUST in case anyone is interested, I’ve declared this paper an Alan Bond free zone – the only one in the country as far as I can tell.

AS the Federal Government salivates over the billions it will earn from the Gorgon project, it would be worth its leadership considering how this potential resources revenue and vast billions that preceded it came to be.

MOST of us have been told, or have subsequently worked out, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

THE green light for the Gorgon is a major step ahead for Western Australia and, as the Federal politicians know, a significant boost to the nation’s treasury.

WITH the next State election likely in mid-2004 rather than early 2005, and set to be a close encounter, it’s worth asking what kind of premier Opposition leader Colin Barnett would make.

IT seems that we have seen our first results from negotiations for a free trade agreement with the US, with many Western Australian farmers ending up winners even though no deal has been signed yet.

AUSTRALIAN prime ministers, like democratically elected leaders worldwide, are under constant pressure from published opinion polls that tell voters how leaders are faring between elections.

WA Business News played host to a wide range of business people and the leading State Government figures on the issue of taxes and charges imposed in Western Australia.

LITTLE has improved for the Gallop Government since it passed the half-way mark of its term in office six months ago.

WHAT is worse than not having enough money? For some people, dear souls, it is the problem of having too much.

THIS week’s vote by BankWest shareholders to agree to a takeover by UK-based HBOS should come as no surprise. Faced with the prospect of the bank becoming a lame duck with a parent that might refuse to invest, shareholders had little choice.

IT’S sobering to be reminded that there are limits to science, technology and Western engineering marvels such as, say, electricity distribution grids.

DID anyone notice a bit of news floating around last week that Australia’s film-making industry was doing well on the back of a clever tax deduction.

ALTHOUGH WA’s 116 State and Federal MPs don’t publicly refer to July as ‘conference month’ they could, because that’s when Labor and the Liberals now hold their annual State conferences.

HOUSING affordability is being billed as a Federal election issue. On the face of it, concern for new homebuyers or, more importantly, renters wanting to become home owners, is understandable.

WA has its fair share of local government controversies, among them the bizarre Wanneroo Council royal commission.

THE development of the Gorgon gas field off Western Australia’s north west coast is shaping as the major test of the Gallop Government’s business-friendly credentials ahead of the next election.

POLITICIANS call it informing constituents. Journalists generally dub it, junk mail. Most voters refer to it as propaganda.

INCREASING numbers of voters claim there’s no real difference between WA’s conservative Liberal and left-of-centre Labor parties.

EVER since The West Australian newspaper ran Dullsville as its front page headline, there has been significant public debate about whether or not this is a great place to live.

WA Business News has won third prize for Best Newspaper, Small Tabloids at the Association of Area Business Publication’s Editorial Excellence Awards, announced

PROFESSIONAL indemnity is one of the crises that has failed to capture the imagination of the very people who will end up being affected – consumers.

I REFER to your article on sand drift (Councils slam summer dust, WA Business News July 3).

POLITICIANS can have a devastating effect on language. This was highlighted by George Orwell in his brilliant essay, Politics and the English Language.