CHOGM, fires end a chaotic year

JULY The month began with revelations of a split in Colin Barnett's Cabinet over his choice of Burswood as the site for WA's new 60,000 seat stadium.

Planning Minister John Day thought the peninsula site was too expensive, Education Minister Liz Constable thought the money could be better spent elsewhere and Environment Minister Bill Marmion opposed a move of footy from Subiaco - in the heart of his electorate.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell unveiled the long-awaited 20-year public transport master plan, which included a light rail to Mirrabooka and an extension of the northern rail line to Yanchep as the key features.

There was no word, however, on how it might be paid for.

The reputation of Hansard was put under the spotlight after a bizarre interpretation of an equally bizarre answer from Seniors Minister Robyn McSweeney to a Parliamentary question about elder abuse.

Ms McSweeney agreed elder abuse was a big problem because many older people were "vicious" - the implication being there is a rampant problem of oldy-on-oldy violence in the community.

Hansard recorded that Ms McSweeney thought old people were "vigorous". The transcript was corrected after an investigation.

AUGUST Energy Minister Peter Collier announced he was shutting down the incredibly expensive solar panel feed-in tariff scheme after a front page story in The West Australian warned it was getting close to its capacity cap.

In fact, the scheme surged way past the cap because no one thought to properly record the dates on the applications.

Who knew so many people liked free money?

MPs were awarded a 4.3 per cent pay rise by the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal. While the decision was independent, it did not pass unnoticed that such largesse was explicitly outside the bounds of the State Government's own wages policy for public servants, which says there are no pay rises to be awarded above inflation unless workers make productivity improvements.

The Keelty report into February's Roleystone-Kelmscott bushfire was released. While Emergency Services Minister Rob Johnson survived, Fire and Emergency Services Authority chief executive Jo Harrison-Ward did not.

She resigned after damning findings.

SEPTEMBER The Premier surprised everyone when he mentioned to journalists at a morning press conference that he had been having high-level talks about stitching State-owned power companies Verve and Synergy back together.

Mr Barnett's denial that it was another of his periodic thought bubbles was undermined somewhat because there was no mention of the plan in the Government's own Strategic Energy Initiative policy document.

Treasurer Christian Porter found himself in the invidious position of having to fess up to an actual Budget surplus of $1.6 billion, or double what Treasury had predicted, thanks mostly to Asia's insatiable demand for iron ore and energy.

Also checking his figures was Tourism Minister Kim Hames, who declared Jeremy Clarkson's Top Gear live stadium show, which came to Perth thanks to an injection of Eventscorp funding, would be watched by no fewer than 385 million people. The actual number was 35,000.

OCTOBER CHOGM, CHOGM, CHOGM, CHOGM, CHOGM, CHOGM.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was on - you might have heard about it.

The Premier got an awful lot of "face time" with the Queen and the giant "PERTH" sign on the foreshore won lots of fans, one in particular in the Government Media Office.

The Minister for Everything Outside Perth, Brendon Grylls, declared he wanted the $1 billion cap on the insanely well-funded Royalties for Regions program scrapped, proving that you can, in fact, have too much of a good thing.

The West Australian ran its 39th story for the year about rising household utility bills.

NOVEMBER November was Laura Norder month as Sunday after Sunday the Government rolled out the planks of its pre-election crime strategy.

There were new laws to deal with prostitutes, bikies and paedophiles, which allowed Rob Johnson to gleefully deploy the tried-and-trusted George W. Bush philosophy that you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists.

Now firmly ensconced in her role as the Premier's spin-doctor-in-chief, Dixie Marshall accused The West's State political editor Ben Harvey of writing a "pathetic", "unfunny", "dumb", "juvenile" column.

Within days, Harvey was promoted to group business editor.

A Department of Environment and Conservation controlled burn got decidedly out of control in Margaret River, destroying 40 properties and exposing Environment Minister Bill Marmion's woeful communication skills to a wider public audience.

With their homes still smouldering, Mr Marmion told residents he was "happy to apologise for anyone who feels they need an apology".

DECEMBER Opposition Leader Eric Ripper was booed and jeered by his non-WA comrades at the Labor Party National Conference when, channelling John Howard on asylum seekers, he declared that we would decide what royalties are in this State.

And he couldn't have been happier about the reaction.

Mr Barnett's foreshadowed Cabinet reshuffle turned out not to be much of a reshuffle at all - but it did include Mr Johnson's removal as Emergency Services Minister, with the job handed to Mr Fixit, Troy Buswell.

Mr Johnson learnt the identity of his replacement on Twitter.

Mr Porter returned from summer holidays to discover the European financial crisis, weaker commodity prices and a persistently poor Perth housing market had blown a $230 million hole in his Budget surplus.

But he also managed to sucker punch Labor for the Perth Arena debacle, so it was not all bad.