Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Opinion

Testing times for NAPLAN
Talking Point
As you read this, one million school students across the nation will be ploughing through reading comprehension questions on the second of three days of national literacy and numeracy tests.Given that the National Assessment Program – Literacy and N...
May 16, 12:34 pm
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Giving money for doing nothing simply wrong
Paul Murray
Who would have thought we’d see a prominent ALP politician speaking out against the debilitating effects of the handout mentality just a week after the welfare blitz of the Gillard Government’s avowed “Labor Budget”?But these are the words of South ...
May 16, 12:32 pm
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Llahuin results excite junior
Spinifex
Southern Hemisphere may have taken a major step forward in its bid to crank up the grades at its Llahuin copper and gold project in Chile.The WA-based junior last month announced a maiden resource for Llahuin of 106.2 million tonnes, but at just 0.4...
May 16, 8:35 am
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Little to learn from Canberra
The Burning Issue
Federal Labor governments have a simplistic view that Australia would be better off if all public activity were managed out of Canberra.In many areas of responsibility the argument is confused with the sensible belief that some State differences cau...
May 15, 12:49 pm
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Time to cash in on a smarter way to travel
Talking Point
When we catch a bus, train or ferry, most of us don’t use cash.More than seven out of every 10 Perth passengers use a SmartRider ticket, a system that incorporates an embedded microchip in a card that enables value to be stored and fares to be deduc...
May 15, 12:43 pm
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Moment of truth for Cats
Mark Duffield
Round 6, 2007 was a moment of truth for Geelong.Preliminary finalists in 2004, they had stumbled in the dying seconds to Sydney in a 2005 semifinal only to lose the plot in 2006.They hit Richmond in round 6, 2007 with a 2-3 win-loss record, having j...
May 14, 1:10 pm
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Free agency free ride for top clubs
Mick Malthouse
The tug-of-war over Collingwood's restricted free agent Travis Cloke has sparked a fear in me for the future of the AFL.I've lived through a type of free agency both as a player and a coach and let me tell you, under that system the AFL risks the st...
May 14, 1:07 pm
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Reform loses out to surplus
Shane Wright
Well, it appears tax reform in this country has died.Despite all the talk from both sides of the political fence, and by those outside of Parliament who say they want change, there is no one willing to give it the kiss of life.The final blow to tax ...
May 14, 12:51 pm
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Cartoons of the Week, May 14
Dean Alston
May 14 - 19Signed prints of Alston cartoons are available from Press Photos. Phone: 9482 2378...
May 14, 12:27 pm
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Matilda waltzes towards deal
Spinifex
Matilda Zircon is on the verge of a major deal which would accelerate the development of its flagship project south of Perth.The minerals sands minnow went into a trading halt on Friday, pending the announcement of “a major corporate development”.Th...
May 14, 12:19 pm
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Pav cements place as top Docker
Dennis Cometti
Matthew Pavlich yesterday became the first Fremantle player and only the 51st ever in VFL/AFL history to kick 500 goals.Although it didn't need that milestone to confirm his status as the best Docker of all time, it was a nice dollop of cream on the...
May 14, 11:03 am
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Barnett must look to the needs of our children
Talking Point
It is two years since Professor Fiona Stanley, then director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, and Michelle Scott, Commissioner for Children and Young People, wrote to all members of State Parliament imploring MPs to make children...
May 11, 12:37 pm
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PM juggles in tough times
Andrew Probyn
For once, Julia Gillard’s administration got its politics about right. If only her Government’s Budget Day repositioning of its battlements could be seen through the squalor and grubbiness of the hung Parliament.Ripping money from the rich and shove...
May 11, 12:33 pm
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Inconvenient truths
Ben O'Shea
In case you missed the scoop, media reports emerged last week of alleged impropriety at the annual UWA Student Guild O-camp, an event held near Dwellingup each February.Purportedly designed to introduce first-year students to uni life, activities al...
May 10, 11:31 am
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Arena 'puzzle' a bold design in conservative city landscape
Talking Point
A squashed beer can. Ugly, hideous, a monstrosity. This is the sort of abuse that has been heaped on the Perth Arena. The public view seems resoundingly negative and its builder has been among those to express distaste for the project, which is at l...
May 10, 11:07 am
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Johnson cops more Liberal flak
Gareth Parker
How much longer has Rob Johnson got as Police Minister? It’s a question that is being asked openly in Liberal Party circles, with an emerging consensus the answer is: “Not long”.Mr Johnson, of course, has been a polarising figure for the entir...
May 10, 11:04 am
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Another case of not understanding us
Gareth Parker
Wayne Swan’s Budget speech last night proved what most WA voters have believed for a while.And that is that the Labor governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard have never understood WA or its resources economy.The Government’s financial plan, the ...
May 9, 1:15 pm
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Legalising drugs opens door to social cancer
Talking Point
The proposal to legalise illegal drugs is a policy in search of a disaster. This is a policy that is often called for by well-meaning middle-class professionals who live far from the communities that have been most affected by the problem of illegal...
May 9, 1:02 pm
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Caught on camera for courts
The Burning Issue
Big Brother is watching you. More than six decades after George Orwell penned the ominous catchcry in his novel Nineteen Eight-Four, the phrase is still heard as the community grapples with the increasing use of surveillance and an erosion of rights...
May 9, 1:00 pm
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It's lunacy aboard Labor's shipwreck
Paul Murray
Wayne Swan’s fifth Budget works politically if you are prepared to suspend your disbelief. The Titanic hasn’t hit an iceberg.Sure, the engines appear to have stopped, but that happens at sea.Captain Gillard has ordered more tea and scones to keep th...
May 9, 12:55 pm
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