Sorry William for it not being aussie news

So you should be. This is the WA election thread.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24264490-5006789,00.html

Women voters to deliver for Labor
t
Peter van Onselen | August 30, 2008

AS things stand one week from polling day, Labor will win the West Australian election with a narrow majority, probably of no more than five seats. But it could be a long night next Saturday, as commentators and politicians alike try to make sense of the close results as they are posted in the tally room.

The Liberal Party is not without a chance. But the final week of the campaign would not only have to go its way, Labor would need to stumble. Short of startling Corruption and Crime Commission reports, that is unlikely.

The order has gone out for ministers to cut back their media commitments, leaving it to the Premier to act as the face of the party.

This is the first election since Labor introduced one-vote-one-value legislative reforms. Without those reforms, it is unlikely it would win a third term in office.

The closeness of this election could not have been predicted a month ago…

(3) Disclosure of conflict of interest
(a) A conflict of interest exists where a member participates in or makes a
decision in the execution of their office knowing that it will improperly
and dishonestly further the Member’s private interest or another person’s
private interest directly or indirectly.
(b) A conflict of interest also exists where the member executes, or fails to
execute, any function or duty knowing that it will improperly and
dishonestly benefit their or another person’s private interests directly or
indirectly.
(c) Members are individually responsible for preventing conflicts of interest
and must carry out their official functions and duties and arrange their
private affairs to the best of their endeavours to prevent such conflicts of
interest arising.
(d) Members of the Legislative Assembly must take all reasonable steps to
declare any conflict of interest between their private financial interests
and decisions in which they participate in the execution of their office.
(e) This may be done through declaring their interests under the Members of
Parliament (Financial Interests) Act 1992 or any rule or order of the
House that may so require through declaring their interest when speaking
on the matter in the Legislative Assembly or a Committee, or in any
other public and appropriate manner.
(f) A conflict of interest does not exist where the member is only affected as
a member of the public or a member of a broad class

http://parliament.wa.gov.au/web/webpages.nsf/WebFiles/LA+Code+of+Conduct+for+Members/$FILE/Code+of+Conduct+for+Members.pdf

If Roberts wanted to avoid heritage listing in the long term she had no chance – the property would have been interim Heritage relisted with the Heritage Council eventually in the short to medium term, if not sooner.

If she wanted to profit from it being off the Register because of her “inaction” her only options would have been immediate demolition or to place it on the market for quick sale. Obviously the former did not occur and there is no suggestion that she pursued the latter.

Had she applied for a demolition permit or had an offer been received on it the local council would be immediately put on notice due to usual and even rudimentary enquiry and the demolition refused and the potential purchaser advised (if indeed anyone looking at that sort of property did not realise anyway) that the property had heritage issues. It would be on the local authority’s list of heritage properties in any event.

There is not, on any objective or half rational assessment, any possibility of her having anything to gain by not formalizing the listing, and to the contrary, had she done so, she would have been enmeshed in a classic conflict of interest emboglio.

All indications are that she acted entirely appropriately, on sound advice, and that Porter, Barnett and the rest of the Liberal dirt brigade have sprung into action in a deliberate exercise of smear by innuendo.

Sleaze bags all.