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Best wishes to the man who knows the devil’s in the detail

Twenty three hours before his resignation from Labor’s frontbench was announced by press release yesterday, Ken Travers was on the phone doing what he typically does — brimming with enthusiasm and pitching a story idea that was heavy on policy detail.

The impetus on this occasion was Colin Barnett’s opinion, expressed in a weekend Ask The Premier segment, that a new port at Kwinana would not be needed for about another 15 years. Travers’ mind went immediately to the detail: the Government’s growth projections for the port, the number of container movements this would entail, and what this would mean for truck movements along Leach Highway, Curtin Avenue and other nearby major roads, even if the Government proceeds with the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link that he ardently opposes on planning grounds.

Where is the traffic modelling, he demanded to know. And if there isn’t any, isn’t that a story in and of itself?

This was typical Ken Travers — never missing an opportunity with the media, making an argument grounded in detailed knowledge of his portfolio, and buttressing it with an array of facts and figures.

It’s why he has been one of Labor’s greatest assets in opposition, and it’s why his departure from the frontbench will be a blow, as even colleagues who occasionally rolled their eyes at his ability to recite the detail to the point of distraction would agree.

Travers declined to speak about his decision yesterday — the press release cited “personal reasons” — but he texted: “I’m good”. To the considerable concern of many colleagues, he has been on leave on the advice of doctors in recent weeks, not that he found it particularly easy to obey those instructions. During Budget week he was contacting reporters and Labor MPs with suggestions and ideas, even though he had been ordered to rest.

It is understood that there have been disagreements with Mark McGowan about the Opposition’s strategy, with Travers preferring a more positive, policy-ideas-oriented approach. That would be typical of the architect of Metronet. Everyone involved in WA politics wishes him a full recovery.