Rio Tinto is refusing to enter into wage negotiations with the union that represents some of the train drivers at its rich iron ore operations in the Pilbara, writes Nicholas Way.
WA
How close did WA Nats come to falling in with Labor?
How close did the WA Nationals really come to an historic deal to keep Labor in government? asks Poll bludger William Bowe.
Nationals resurgent after a weird weekend on unwanted hustings
Playing kingmaker at a State level opens up vast pork-barrelling possibilities, writes Bernard Keane.
Where do they find state politicians anyway?
It’s probably too much to ask for political courage and vision, writes Bernard Keane.
WA election gets down and dirty — no surprises there
With so much ammunition available to both sides, it comes as no surprise to find the WA election campaign dominated by negative advertising, writes Poll Bludger.
Labor ‘cr-pping itself” over WA polling
Expectations that Alan Carpenter’s government will be comfortably returned in Western Australia are dying hard, writes Poll Bludger.
The WA Liberals: no place for a woman
When nominations closed on Friday, it was revealed the Liberals had managed a grand total of six female lower house candidates out of 58, writes William Bowe.
WA poll: Barnett falters on daylight and the shops
The Western Australian Liberal Party stumbled badly on two issues this week, writes Noel Crichton-Browne.
First NT now WA — hot vote in 08
Everybody loves an early election, writes William Bowe.
WA part II: this election is Barnett’s to win. Or lose
The people of Western Australian just want good government, writes Noel Crichton-Browne.
WA part I: Libs are underdogs, but backable
The timing is cynical, and the odds are stacked against the opposition, but don’t write the Liberals off in WA, writes William Bowe.
Mackerras: the WA redistribution that grew
‘I assumed it would be a pretty minor affair but I could not have been proved more wrong,’ writes Malcolm Mackerras.
Crichton-Browne: Buswell’s departure a tragedy. Sniff.
The departure of Troy Buswell leaves the WA Liberal Party in search of its fifth leader in three years, writes former Liberal Senator and WA President Noel Crichton Browne.
Tips and rumours
Big W delivered a very, very large broadsheet sized glossy catalogue to my home on Wednesday, heavily promoting a 42” Sanyo plasma TV for $794. On arrival at the store yesterday morning at 9am, on the first day of the sale, I was told by a smiling shop assistant that all of the TVs had sold out […]
WA gas worker: Fark, we ran for our lives
In the wake of last week’s WA gas explosion at Varanus Island, Crikey has received two illuminating insider accounts of the energy situation in WA (complete with pictures).
Are Perth’s silver stocks low?
A storm appears to be brewing around The Perth Mint, with speculation that the Mint’s precious metals pool has run dry, writes Lachlan Taylor.
Tips and rumours
Have you us seen the new WA Today website — Fairfax’s new portal on the West? Those of us on the West Coast were looking forward to someone setting up shop in opposition to the single limp daily we suffer at the moment. Unfortunately what we got was SMH content with a thin veneer of local stories […]
The lost billions from WA gas crisis
The full extent of Western Australia’s gas crisis is starting to emerge with all sorts of tales of woe ranging from production cut backs at huge resource projects to Perth hotels not being able to provide clean sheets, writes Stephen Mayne.
FuelWatch = $7.50 per working family a year
The problem with petrol politics is that the numbers involved are simply enormous. Possum Comitatus looks at FuelWatch and does the number crunching for you.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government plus the daily reality check and the pick of other people’s political coverage. Richard Farmer writes.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
It’s early days, but this ad from the weekend papers will probably rate as the week’s wildest act of unfettered optimisim.
Troy Buswell the victim of a quokka smear
Troy Buswell’s quokka denial is a story about the slide in standards of journalism — and how ridiculous conjecture will now stick to him, writes Possum Comitatus.
Crikey Says: Crikey says
The state of Australia’s States. What a lark, eh?
