DURING the image grooming that resulted in “Dr Geoff Gallop the political leader”, much was made of his close connection with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
DURING the image grooming that resulted in “Dr Geoff Gallop the political leader”, much was made of his close connection with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
We all heard how they were mates at university in the UK and Dr Gallop was more than just an invited wedding guest.
More importantly, they both offered a modern view of the left, we were told.
I have suggested in the past, perhaps a little facetiously, that, given their closeness, Dr Gallop might take a few tips from Mr Blair.
This time, I really mean it.
Mr Blair has taken on the unions, which back his party, accusing them of being wreckers of reform in areas like the railways and health.
Of course it has created a furore in Britain, but the point is, he has signalled that people who hold back reform are clinging desperately to old ways that just don’t work.
There are many differences between WA and Britain, but there are also similarities.
Mr Blair’s party is heavily reliant on union funding, as is Dr Gallop’s, even though union membership in the UK is small at 27 per cent of the workforce compared with around 22 per cent here.
Perhaps the biggest difference is that the unions had been put in their place before Mr Blair came to power, while Dr Gallop has to make endless compromises in areas like industrial relations be-cause WA unions still hold significant sway in the Labor Party backrooms.
Finding compromises for survival’s sake is good politics, though mainly in the short term.
But good leaders can appear to rise above politics.
Oddly enough, Labor governments have a good track record in winning over their constituents with seemingly conservative policies.
The Hawke-Keating era, for all its faults, brought tremendous deregulation with immense benefits.
Dr Gallop, WA doesn’t need another three years of half-hearted decision making.
We need strong leadership.
It’s still worth a call to Tony, isn’t it.
40 cheers to all involved
THE 40under40 awards night this week was the culmination of nine months’ work at Business News.
That is a tight time frame for such an ambitious event, started from scratch, and there will be much relief around our office.
That relief is not so much from getting such an uplifting event to the finish line, or even that the quality of the candidates exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts.
No. It is relief that the WA business community came on board in such a big way.
From the very supportive sponsors who took a risk in being involved at the beginning of what was a big unknown, to the members of the business community who put their hand up and nominated someone they believed in.
And, of course, the candidates themselves.
Perth people are not known for big noting themselves. With the exception of a few unfortunate historical examples, we are quiet achievers.
It took time to fill out the nomination and it took guts to lay out your failures and hopes to a complete bunch of strangers.
I congratulate everyone involved and offer my sincere thanks for supporting our endeavours to support you.
