Extra perks for WA pollies

WA politicians, including Premier Colin Barnett, will be able to claim thousands in extra electoral, car and travel allowances. Source: The Sunday Times

WA politicians will be rewarded with tens of thousands of extra dollars in perks that will take some annual packages to more than $300,000.

The Salaries and Allowances Tribunal has decided to top up several of the funds that politicians can dip into, including electoral, car and travel allowances.

In its decision the SAT said Premier Colin Barnett had specifically requested extra money to help cover "attendance fees" to conferences and workshops under the Imprest Travel Allowance.

"This was a matter raised in particular by the Premier," the SAT said.

"By providing for reimbursement of fees to attend conference, seminars and short courses the tribunal intends that Members should have a greater capacity to keep abreast of current issues and be involved in informed debate on important policy matters."

The increases to perks comes on top of a decision in June to increase base pay for a politician by 2.6 per cent to $148,638.

The Sunday Times can also reveal that more than $160,000 was spent on artwork for Mr Barnett's new office at the re-designed $26 million Hale House.

But a spokeswoman for Mr Barnett said the art costs for Hale House dubbed the "Emperor's Palace" by the Opposition were not exorbitant.

Yesterday the State Opposition attacked the Government for spending more than $60,000 buying and hiring plants and flowers over a three-month period earlier this year for government ministers, departments and agencies.

A review of the SAT decision on allowances shows:

The Imprest Travel Allowance, paid over four years, rose 10 per cent from $24,534 to $27,000.
Car allowances rose 10.4 per cent from $22,650 a year to $25,000
Yearly electoral allowances rose 8.1 per cent from $61,895 to $67,000
Accommodation allowances rose 2.6 per cent from $31,920 to $32,760.
In addition to those increases, electoral allowances for country MPs were boosted.

For example, a Mining and Pastoral Region MP will be paid $48,300 a year in transport allowances instead of $46,500.

The increases come after a horror State Budget in which public transport users, car owners, first homebuyers and investment property owners were big losers.

Treasurer Troy Buswell revealed State debt would balloon to $28.4 billion within three years as the Barnett Government strove to meet big-ticket election promises and dealt with WA's surging population.

Electricity prices, which have risen 4 per cent this year, are tipped to go up by 7 per cent each year from 2014 to 2016.

This will take the average annual family power bill from $963 to $1998 under Mr Barnett's reign, despite his promise during the March state election campaign to keep electricity prices "at or around the rate of inflation", which is now 2.5 per cent.

Defending the pay increases, the SAT said: "The tribunal is conscious of the position of parliamentarians in our democratic system that the remuneration of Members should not preclude people from all walks of life from aspiring to enter Parliament."
 

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Early Sunday trading in store

Shoppers queue to enter Ikea Innaloo just before 11am on a Sunday Morning. Picture: Kerris Berrington Source: PerthNow

PERTH shops would be able to open from 9am on Sundays under a plan being considered by the Barnett Government.

Commerce Minister Michael Mischin confirmed to The Sunday Times that a strategy to scrap the ban on shops opening before 11am was being reviewed.

Changes could be introduced as early as next year. Mr Mischin said he was preparing to make a decision soon.

Do you think shops should be able to open at 9am on Sundays? Have your say on Twitter #sundaytrading

Shopping Centre Council of Australia executive director Milton Cockburn said it didn't make sense that people were left "sitting around" waiting until 11am to enter a store.

"One of the problems is in a lot of the big shopping centres you will often find customers are congregating in the centres well before 11am," he said.

Mr Mischin said he was looking to introduce a number of "incremental" changes to Sunday trading laws as early as next year.

"I'm not looking at radical reform, but if there are ways of facilitating commerce and people's ability to purchase goods that they need from time to time then I am prepared to entertain that," he said.

"So far as extending the hours on Sundays, it's one of a number of options that, of course, I will consider."

Mr Mischin said he could not discuss all changes being considered, but confirmed controversial hardware exemptions that allowed Bunnings to open longer hours than its rival Masters were also up for review.

Mr Mischin said Sunday trading laws, introduced by the Government on August 26 last year, had been a big success.

"It's resulted, from the information I have, in increased convenience for consumers," he said.

"It's increased competition among retailers and it's provided more employment opportunities, especially for those seeking casual jobs."

Mr Cockburn said shops should be able to open from 8am-5pm on a Sunday, as they can on a Saturday. Most retailers can only open 11am-5pm, with the exception of small and speciality stores, which can open 6am-11.30pm.

WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said Sunday trading had created 1000 additional jobs and attracted investment from overseas.

"We know that some major brands were not attracted to opening in WA because of the unreasonable restrictions on retail trading," he said.

"Since the big step was taken and Sunday trading was brought in a year ago it's no coincidence that we have seen major redevelopments of shopping centres announced."

Mr Pearson said removing trading-hour restrictions was the "logical next step".

Premier Colin Barnett said last year that further deregulation would not be necessary.

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Elder: Take at-risk kids away

Albany Nyoongar elder Carol Pettersen says aboriginal children must be taken from dysfunctional families. Picture: Theo Fakos Source: PerthNow

ABORIGINAL children must be taken from dysfunctional families across Australia to save yet another generation being irreparably damaged, a prominent elder has warned.

Carol Pettersen, an Albany Nyoongar who was national elder of the year in 2008, says whoever wins the federal election has to overcome fears of a re-run of the stolen generation, or allow another "lost'" generation to be created.

But Ms Pettersen, 72, stressed that at-risk Aboriginal children would only really be saved by also rehabilitating troubled parents and communities, to solve issues.

Ken Wyatt wants indigenous issues tackled

The long-standing champion of Aboriginal social justice who suffered domestic violence in her first marriage and knew, "first-hand", "the fear and broken bones", said helping "dysfunctional" people and communities might necessitate an "academy out in the bush" or a "city out in the desert".

She said the program should be a federal initiative, but should be designed and led by Aboriginal people, and that both major parties needed to act, because there was a moral responsibility to ensure the safety of all Australian children.

Ms Pettersen, who helped negotiate the recent $1.3 billion native title deal with the WA Government, said the work had to be done by contracted, experienced Aboriginal case workers, not bureaucrats, who would try "dragging people into the office".

"We Aboriginal people have to stand up and take action, and responsibility for ourselves," she said.

"The children must be taken, "they have to be taken away (from dysfunctional families), because there is a risk there . . . rape and alcohol, and violence, and the trauma."

She said some dysfunctional parents, especially drug takers, could not be rehabilitated at home because of pressure not change by those around them, and whole communities might need help.

"Whether it's an academy out in the bush somewhere (or) a city out in the desert ... they've got to get away from the environment," she said.

But she said it was also pivotal children were placed with Aboriginal families and were not denied all contact with parents, because that would "break their spirit", making it difficult to motivate change.

She said fears about creating another stolen generation had to be overcome because "if they're going to leave the children in that situation are they ... the Government, going to be liable for this generation of children ... leaving them in that abusive situation?"

Ms Pettersen said she hated to blame past oppression, including the Stolen Generation, for the dysfunction that stopped many Aborigines from living well, but it was largely responsible.

"If you put a dog in a cage and put a blanket over him, and poke sticks at it all of the time, that thing's going to turn into a savage animal, and that's what they've done with Aboriginal people," she said.

She said previous programs failing was "not a failure of our people" but a "failure of the programs", and that helping Aborigines out of dysfunction was an investment that would also save cash in areas including health, policing and social security.

Federal Labor Perth candidate Alannah MacTiernan said much could be done with early intervention before the "last resort'' of removal, but Ms Pettersen's idea was "a direction we should be looking at" because "there are some families where the parents just don't have the capacity to raise these kids and it is dangerous leave those children with them".

"The Stolen Generation has impacted this, people in many cases just actually lost the knowledge and understanding, and what becomes for many of us an intuition about how you raise children, this learning has been lost," she said.

But she said it had to be acknowledged there were "fantastic" Aboriginal families, which was a "miracle" given what their people had endured.

Deputy federal Liberal leader Julie Bishop said: "If elected to government the Coalition has announced that Warren Mundine will chair a new indigenous advisory council, and I am certain that the council would be keen to hear all ideas about ways to solve the problem of child abuse.

"The Federal Coalition has acted in the past to protect Aboriginal children, and responded to horrifying reports about child sexual abuse with the Northern Territory intervention in 2007.

"In Western Australia, child protection is a State Government responsibility and I urge Carol Pettersen to work with Aboriginal communities and the Barnett government to find ways of better protecting children at risk of abuse."
 

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Gran a lifesaver in Huntingdale crash

This image from the dashboard of the injured girl's family car shows the moment before impact. Police are keen to speak to any witnesses from surrounding vehicles. Picture: WA Police Source: PerthNow

The scene of the crash in Huntingdale. The white Commodore wagon (left) collided with the dark-coloured vehicle, which the 13-year-old girl was travelling in with her family. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

A GRANDMOTHER has been praised for helping save the life of a 13-year-old girl who suffered serious injuries when a stolen vehicle smashed into her family's car in Huntingdale.

Rosemarie Tierney, 63, revealed to The Sunday Times the horrifying moments after the crash on Huntingdale Rd, when the car in which the girl and her parents were travelling was hit by a stolen Holden Commodore, allegedly driven on the wrong side of the road about 5pm.

"I was just sitting in the lounge ready to watch the football then I heard this massive bang and I ran out to see what happened and then saw the two cars," she said.

"The dad of the little girl was calling out: 'Can someone please help us, help us'. The mum had already moved (the young girl from the car), so I just rolled her into the recovery position and just sat on the ground talking to her until the ambulance officers came. I was trying to keep her talking to keep her alert."

Other witnesses said the girl's father stopped the car and frantically flashed his lights at the stolen vehicle.

"The dad just kept saying, 'There was nothing I could do'," Ms Tierney, who works as a patient-care assistant in Murdoch, said.

A witness, who did not want to be named, said the girl's father hugged and thanked Mrs Tierney for helping save his daughter's life shortly before he was taken away in the ambulance.

The girl was taken to Royal Perth Hospital, where she is in a serious but stable condition. Her 50-year-old father was by her side.

The girl's 47-year-old mother was in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and being treated for minor injuries.

Resident Philip Gibbs, who was one of the first on the scene, said he heard what sounded "like an explosion".

Other residents, who were "shaken to the core" by the horror crash are preparing a petition to slow traffic on the notorious stretch of road.

Police allege 27-year-old Ashley Louise King was behind the wheel of the stolen vehicle. She has been charged with a number of offences, including three counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm.

Ms King and a 40-year-old woman, believed to be a passenger, were both in hospital.

The 40-year-old is also expected to be summonsed on a charge of stealing a motor vehicle. Ms King is expected to appear in the Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Police have released a chilling photograph taken from the dashboard of the family car. They are keen to speak to the driver of a silver car which can be seen behind the Commodore as it collides with the family's car.

Witnesses should call Crime Stoppers on 1800333000.
 

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Abbott's $32k baby pay day for working mums

Charntelle Finch (due sept 30) stands to benefit. Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Limited

EVERY working woman in Australia will secure six months leave on full pay plus super for each baby born after July 1, 2015 under an Abbott government.

A woman on average weekly earnings of $65,000 per year would get about $32,500 during her 26 weeks' leave.

Tony Abbott will today unveil his big pitch to Australian families - a generous paid parental leave scheme that will also deliver fathers two weeks paternity leave at their actual salary and mothers up to 26 weeks leave on full pay.

For the first time, he will reveal the 2015 start date of his new scheme. Mr Abbott will also confirm that the Coalition's decision to also pay working women's superannuation entitlements while on baby leave will ensure women on average weekly earnings who have two children will be better off by $50,000 when they retire.

Women earning $65,000 a year would secure an extra $20,000 in cash payments under Mr Abbott's scheme compared to Labor's plan.

An exclusive Galaxy poll published today in The Sunday Telegraph suggests the policy is a winner, with 44 per cent of voters backing Mr Abbott's paid parental leave scheme compared to 36 per cent who preferred Labor's existing scheme.

The scheme, which has been fully costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, will involve a net additional cost to taxpayers of $6.1 billion over the forward estimates. That's after Mr Abbott hits 3000 of Australia's largest companies with a 1.5 per cent tax levy to pay for the scheme.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Abbott said he made no apology for offering such a generous scheme to working women. The father of three confirmed he hoped it would deliver women more choice to have more kids.

"Every working mum is going to be better off under our policy,'' Mr Abbott said.

"It proves that the Coalition 'gets it' when it comes to the reality of the contemporary woman and contemporary families.

"The fact is very few families these days can survive on a single income. Just about every family needs more than one income to survive. So if we are serious about allowing women to have kids and a career we've got to have a fair dinkum paid parental leave scheme."

The Coalition's offer of six months on full pay compares with Labor's scheme which offers all working women 18 weeks pay at the minimum wage - a maximum of $11,200.

That compares with Mr Abbott's scheme which will offer women earning up to $150,000 six months off work on full pay to care for their baby. Women who earn over $150,000 will also get the maximum $75,000.

During the Howard Government, Mr Abbott famously said paid parental leave would happen "over this government's dead body, frankly".

Charntelle Finch (due sept 30) and Tracey Bahamondez (due Dec 15 with twins). Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Limited

COMMENT: SAMANTHA MAIDEN

TONY Abbott's big legacy for the women of Australia if he is elected Prime Minister will be one very generous paid maternity scheme.

But big business will pick up the tab with every company in Australia with a turnover of more than $5 million a year slapped with a new 1.5 per cent levy from 2015.

Offering women six months off work on their full wage, the Liberal leader hopes it will encourage couples to have more kids but also act as an incentive for women to stay in the workforce and boost Australia's productivity.

Naturally, mums can choose to take the cash and take it over a year at half pay too. But it's just for working women. Stay at home mums will still get the baby bonus unless they meet the work test. Part-time if fine, as long as you have worked for 330 hours - just over one day a week - in the 10 months leading up to the birth of your child.

The Liberal leader has told us plenty about what he doesn't want - the carbon tax, the mining tax, the chaos of the Rudd-Gillard years.

Finally, he's talking about what he wants to do as Prime Minister and it is a big, big reform. Tony Abbott has resisted stiff internal pressure to dump or amend the scheme. It really is his baby.

"I know there are some people who say this is an odd policy for a conservative to have,'' Mr Abbott says.

"The policies that conservatives adopt should be the best way to reflect conservative views in modern circumstances. Being pro family is a conservative position. Being pro children is a conservative position. And if you want to be pro family and pro child in the modern era I reckon you need to have a paid parental leave policy."

But he admits that the ultimate goal of dumping the levy on business is a long, long time down the track. Perhaps never.

"Given the budgetary position we are in I don't expect that to happen anytime soon,'' he says.

According the Parliamentary Budget Office the scheme will cost over $5 billion a year when it is fully up and running. But that cost will be offset by abolishing Labor's existing paid parental leave scheme that pays women 18 weeks leave at the minimum wage. There's also some savings around Family Tax Benefit A and B payments that would not occur if women were on baby leave.

There would be no double dipping by public servants who already have access to existing schemes and that would save money too. So once those savings are made the scheme would cost around $3.5 billion a year. That cost would be fully accounted for according to Mr Abbott by a levy on big business to pay for the scheme.

The big criticism is that it will offer big windfalls to a small group of high income women. A woman earning $150,000 for example can get $75,000 from taxpayers to care for a baby.

But in key battleground seats the majority of women don't earn that. Most earn somewhere between the minimum wage and $65,000 and they will be much better off under Tony Abbott's scheme than Labor's more modest offering.

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Road-train killer due for release

Douglas John Edwin Crabbe could be released within days. Picture: Archive News Ltd Source: PerthNow

ONE of Australia's most notorious mass murderers could be released into the WA community within days.

Douglas John Edwin Crabbe, 66, killed five people and injured 16 others when he ploughed his road-train into a crowded Ayres Rock pub after he was kicked out for anti-social behaviour on August 18, 1983.

He was originally sentenced to serve the rest of his life in an Alice Springs prison but had it changed after the Northern Territory changed its laws in 2004.

He was instead given a 30-year non-parole period for the crimes.

A year later, Crabbe was moved to WA after he applied for a transfer to be closer to his family.

He is due for his first statutory review this Sunday – exactly three decades after the horrific atrocity.

PerthNow understands the WA Prisoners Review Board has already carried out its review of Crabbe.

But because of the gravity of his crimes, a final decision over whether to release the 66-year-old rests with WA Attorney-General Michael Mischin.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General confirmed the board is due to submit a report with its recommendation either on or around Crabbe's statutory review date of August 18.

She said once the report had been submitted, the Attorney General would then "consider and make a decision".

One of Crabbe's victims Lydia Hannah, who now lives in Queensland, told PerthNow she did not believe Crabbe should be granted freedom.

Ms Hannah was knocked unconscious during the incident but then spent the next two years recovering from her injuries.

She also lost four friends that night. Helen Fuller, 22, David Seng, 24, Leslie McKay-Ramsey, 35, and 21-year-old Adrian Durin.

Another woman, Patricia Slinn, 45, was also killed.

Ms Hannah told PerthNow she had written to the Attorney-General appealing for him to also consider the survivors.

"This guy killed five people and injured 16 others," she said. "He was never to be released. How do you go from never being able to be released to serving just 30 years?

"I just think it's crazy if he gets out. He has robbed all these other families of their loved ones. Why should he be free?"

She added: "People who say he has done his time, what exactly do they base that on? Were they there? Did they get injured? Did they lose a loved one?

"People that say that are generally people that have never lost someone in those circumstances.

"If it was their own child or someone in their family they wouldn't be saying that."
 

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Digger-attack soldier shot dead

Three Australians were seriously wounded in the attack by Mohammad Rozi. Source: News Limited

A WANTED Afghan soldier who wounded three Diggers in a 2011 unprovoked shooting has been tracked down and killed.

The Afghan Ministry of Defence said Mohammad Rozi was killed by Afghan commandoes on Wednesday morning in the north-eastern province of Takhar, about 400km from where he was last seen.

A provincial official said Rozi had travelled to Takhar at the request of his dying father who had asked to see his son for the last time.

Locals in the area reported a wild shoot-out early on Wednesday morning in which they said was the operation to detain Rozi.

It is the first time Afghan troops have successfully pursued an Afghan soldier responsible for attacks on Australian troops.

The hunt for Rozi came after he fired upon Australian and Afghan troops at a small patrol base about 30km from Australia's main base in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tarin Kowt.

Three Australians were seriously wounded while two Afghan soldiers sustained minor injuries.

A well-prepared Rozi had packed a vehicle with weapons and supplies before fleeing after the sneak attack on the night of November 9, 2011. Until yesterday he had not been heard of since.

A member of Takhar's provincial council, Mujebur Rahman, said the operation on Wednesday morning was less than a kilometre from his house.

"We couldn't sleep because there were so many helicopters in the sky," he said.

"Then there was shooting and many grenades exploded."

Mr Rahman said neighbours of Rozi's father said the wanted soldier had returned recently to see his father because he was dying.

"His father was calling him and saying 'come and see me, I am very sick'," Mr Rahman said.

"From what I have been told he was with the Taliban in (neighbouring) Kunduz province and he came with a weapon and wouldn't surrender. He fought with the Afghan special forces and wounded three of them but then they used grenades and killed him. His face is completely destroyed and his father is in a coma."

In February last year, the Taliban posted a boastful 47-minute interview with Rozi in which he proudly spoke about shooting the Australians, falsely claiming he had killed 12 of them.

In the video, Rozi says; ''I had one mission on my mind - to kill foreigners and teach them a lesson. We are Muslims. We cannot accept foreigners.

"I prepared the grenade launcher and my gun with 200 bullets. Foreigners were sitting in a room. They were fire worshippers around a big fire. There were 12 of them. A soldier ran to me and asked me what I was doing. He suspected my motives. I told him that it was none of his business … I opened fire. When the bullets ran out it was time to use the rocket launcher.''

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Woosha reaches out to sacked Voss

West Coast coach John Worsfold reached out to Michael Voss yesterday after his sacking from the Lions. Picture: Chris Hyde Source: Getty Images

WEST Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold has not ruled out approaching sacked Brisbane counterpart Michael Voss to join his support staff.

The 2006 Eagles premiership coach is on the verge of an extension to his coaching tenure at West Coast and revealed he sent a personal message to Voss just hours after the Lions great was dumped yesterday.

Worsfold joked that Voss might actually still have a contractual commitment to West Coast after the Lions playing legend was appointed as an Eagles assistant late into 2008.

Voss reneged on his Eagles agreement when Brisbane triple premiership coach Leigh Matthews quit the Lions.

"I will check the terms of that contract. He may actually still be contracted here, because he only cut it to be a senior coach elsewhere," Worsfold quipped.

"We've got a lot of coaches here that are passionate, motivated and skilful. So we're not lacking in that area and we're not out there looking at the moment.

"Surprises are always around the corner."

West Coast management is currently conducting a full review of Worsfold's football operations, with changes expected in the support coaching staff.

Worsfold has retained a close association with Voss in the evolution of their relevant coaching times.

"I've had a pretty good relationship with Vossy for a long period of time," Worsfold elaborated.

"So as soon as I heard I sent him a message and he got back to me straight away.

"At some point in time I look forward to catching up with him."

Worsfold said it was too early to establish if formal discussions with Voss would be initiated.

"Not at this stage, because there's no role here," he said.

Worsfold confessed he is in discussions with the Eagles board of management and in particular chief executive Trevor Nisbett and club chairman Alan Cransberg on his future.

A highly anticipated blueprint presentation of his plans for next season and beyond has been put on hold by Eagles powerbrokers until September.

Worsfold is expected to win a two-year extension after 12 seasons already as Eagles coach, which have yielded eight finals campaigns in the past 11 years.

"The board had a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) and they've got another meeting in a month's time," Worsfold said.

"I talk regularly outside of board meeting with Trevor and Alan, so everything is going along pretty well.

"I'm very confident that my focus is on what's best for the footy club. What they need, what they're looking for and if I fit into that that will be great and if I don't other great things open up.

"Alan Cransberg has made it public that they're keen for me to coach on if I've got the passion and I've indicated that I'm keen to coach on.

"At this stage, things are starting to line up."

An extremely buoyant Worsfold revealed that he would consider coaching another AFL club if he was not extended at West Coast.

He declared that neither he nor his manager Reg Gillard had been approached by any of the current AFL outfits searching for a new head coach.

"Yeh of course I would. Absolutely I would," Worsfold said, further portraying his own enthusiasm to coach on.

West Coast is still an outside chance to make this year's finals if they could win at least two of their last three games against powerhouse outfits Geelong at home on Saturday, then Collingwood in Melbourne before rounding out home-and-away qualifying with Adelaide at home.

"There's a process that our board will go through I appointing anyone to this club and they'll go through that process, it's due diligence," Worsfold said.

"Part of that is sitting down and talking about terms of contract and all the others sorts of things that happen in making that appointment.

"We've got to make sure it's the right thing for the footy club and that process is under way."
 

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Abbott had beer goggles on: Latham

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has weighed into the Tony Abbott "sex appeal" controversy. Source: News Limited

COLOURFUL former Labor leader Mark Latham has leapt with both feet into the Tony Abbott "sex appeal" controversy, saying the Opposition Leader must have been drunk to think candidate Fiona Scott attractive.

"It showed very bad judgement and it shows he has low standards," Latham told Melbourne radio station 3AW of the comments.

Mr Abbott caused an uproar on Tuesday when he described politician Fiona Scott, his candidate for the seat of Lindsay, as having "a bit of sex appeal" when he was comparing her to former Liberal member Jackie Kelly.

The Oppostion Leader was accused earlier today of sexism by Kevin Rudd, but Mr Latham took his criticism further and in a suitably strange direction this afternoon.

"I had a good look at Fiona Scott on page eight ... and she doesn't have sex appeal at all.

"She's not that good of a sort."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott caused controversy when he described candidate Fiona Scott as haivng "sex appeal". Source: News Limited

Interviewer Tom Elliot interrupted the one-time wannabe PM to tell him his comments were worse than the ones that landed Tony Abbott in hot water on the campaign trail yesterday.

"That's worse than what Tony Abbott said," radio announcer Tom Elliott said.

"You just can't call a woman plain like that."

But Latham was not to be dissuaded, accusing Mr Abbott of trying to win over male voters with the "daggy dad" moment.

"She's a rather plain ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively to try and win her vote among the blokes ... "

"Tony had the beer goggles on and in politics they say it's showbiz for ugly people and I don't think she'll (Fiona) be out of place."

"He's gilding the lily here, he must have had the beer goggles on".

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Premier walks out of parliament

Premier Colin Barnett walked out of parliament today after coming under fire during budget reply speeches. Source: The Australian

THE West Australian government has come under fire from within its own party during budget reply speeches in parliament, prompting Premier Colin Barnett to momentarily walk out.

Maverick Liberal backbencher Rob Johnson - who has dogged Mr Barnett since he was axed as police minister in a cabinet reshuffle in June 2012 - was today highly critical of the 2013/14 budget handed down last week.

Mr Johnson said the Liberals had made promises before the March poll that it either knew, or should have known it could not afford to keep.

In light of mounting debt, he suggested the government rethink its $2 billion airport rail link project, which he said it had dreamt up after the opposition started its election campaign strongly with the MetroNet rail plan.

Barnett 'flexible' on super councils

Mr Johnson suggested a public debate be held on what public transport infrastructure the state truly needed and could afford.

It's the second time in three days he has publicly lambasted his own party.

On Monday, he took to talkback radio to slam the state government's plan to halve the tariff rate for households that feed in surplus solar power to the grid. Moments later, the plan was reversed amid a strong public backlash, prompting an apology from Mr Barnett.

The premier walked out of the chamber when Mr Johnson began speaking today, but returned later, only to be heckled by Labor member for Collie-Preston Mick Murray.

Mr Murray said the budget was "the worst" and mocked the government for describing its election commitments earlier this year as fully funded and costed.

"I don't know how to take this government because (of) its deception and the lies that were told before the election," he said.

"It must have had some inkling of where the whole budgetary process was going, but I think they just went out there and pulled the blind down, and said 'let's go for it - we'll deal with it when we get there'."
 

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