Person of the Year SPECIAL REPORT Person of the Year

Person of the year SPECIAL REPORT Person of the year FEATURE Western defence delivers for feds The Liberal Party WA’s marginal seat contingent played a big role in the shock May federal election victory, while local ministers, most notably Christian Porter, are key to the government’s agenda. The western front is playing “The (Bill) would simply have requires a sensible, measured, Senate, and with the govern- Matt Mckenzie a key role in the Morrison gov- promoted compliance with Aus- approach to reform taking ment’s own initiatives helping [email protected] ernment’s as-yet unadventurous tralia’s workplace laws and acted into account the differences in lift spending by 8.4 per cent, @Matt_Mckenzie_ agenda, with senior ministers as a deterrent to the recidivist the volume of material hosted then treasurer Joe Hockey including Mathias Cormann law-breaking of a minority group between Twitter or Facebook found himself projecting a $35.1 in the finance portfolio, of union officials,” Mr Knott said. and a traditional newspaper,” billion deficit in 2016. HRISTIAN Porter felt Linda Reynolds in defence, Further work has been sig- Mr Porter said. By the time Josh Frydenberg his chances of victory in and Melissa Price in defence nalled to simplify awards and Meanwhile, work is ongoing to handed down his 2020 budget C the seat of Pearce were industry. encourage take up of employee reform family law. earlier this year, spending had so remote in the May federal Mr Wyatt is serving as Minis- share schemes. grown a further 14.7 per cent, a election he promised to get a ter for Indigenous Australians Mr Porter’s other priorities The money men slightly reduced pace. tattoo if he was returned with and has taken on a big task will require deft handling. Senator Cormann and state But stronger economic growth an increased margin. marshalling a program for rec- One is a religious discrimina- Treasurer Ben Wyatt have both has helped boost revenue intake, Mr Porter, our person of the ognition in the constitution. tion bill, which has been delayed achieved the rarest of accolades up nearly 37 per cent over six year, picked up a 3.9 per cent Senator Reynolds and Ms until next year. for economic ministers – fore- years, so a surplus of $7 billion is swing, two party preferred, to Price are supervising what the This could be a potential land- casting near-term surpluses. expected in this financial year. hold the seat by a safe 7.5 per government says is the largest mine for a government that had The federal budget will be in Senator Cormann is the only cent, and so the following month defence investment program cash surplus this financial year, person who sat on the govern- he got inked. in peacetime, with about $90 the Commonwealth claims, ment’s expenditure review Since then he’s been involved billion to be spent on new sub- % while Mr Wyatt predicts a cash committee through the whole in industrial relations reform, marines and frigates. surplus in the year to June 2021. period, serving under three lead- work around religious discrim- Senator Cormann’s role in +3.9 Both of those milestones are ers and three treasurers. ination, and on free speech. finance will be explored later. 2PP SWING TO PORTER the culmination of years of The committee has reportedly Pearce was one of five key To the extent the government IN PEARCE effort and an element of luck. only grown in importance under electorates in Western Australia is driving change, Mr Porter has Senator Cormann has held Mr Morrison. the coalition desperately needed been crucial this year and has long campaigned to ease pro- the federal finance portfolio Senator Cormann has also to defend, with Andrew Hastie several items on his agenda. visions in the existing Racial since the election of the Abbott been a driver of the govern- in Canning and Ken Wyatt in He is leading changes to Discrimination Act. government in 2013, a time when ment’s tax reform agenda, with Hasluck both securing improved industrial relations through The government is con- Treasury was projecting a $30.1 more than $300 billion of income margins. the Ensuring Integrity Bill, sidering moves to improve billion underlying cash deficit. tax cuts legislated in the past Stirling’s Vince Connelly and developing laws on religious press freedom, Mr Porter There were also expensive two budgets. Swan’s Steve Irons weathered discrimination, and is deeply told the National Press Club programs launching, including About 90 per cent of taxpay- small swings away to hold on to involved in the debate about earlier in December, after a the Gonski school reforms and ers will sit on a 30 cent marginal their divisions. press freedom. campaign by several major news National Disability Insurance rate by 2024, making the system All of that was critical to The Ensuring Integrity Bill is organisations. Scheme, putting major pressure effectively flat. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s set for another vote after an ini- There are potential laws also on spending and debt levels. At a state level, Mr Wyatt pathway to a majority, winning tial defeat in the Senate. flagged by the government that The government embarked inherited a tough set of books a surprise 77 seats, up one from It will give courts the power will restrict the rights of pro- on an unpopular fiscal consol- and has kept spending under his predecessor Malcolm Turn- to disqualify union officials or testers and laws to make social idation, which included cuts to control while running a scaled- bull in 2016. organisations that don’t act in media businesses account- middle class welfare, a deficit back privatisation program. The win was despite a 0.7 per the interest of members or have able for comments on their levy, lower spending growth Former treasurer Mike Nahan cent first preference movement a history of breaking the law, platforms. in health and education, and deserves some credit, too. away from the Liberal Party and will create a public interest “My own view is that these changes to pension indexation. nationally, and an even larger test for union mergers. online platforms should be held Few of the big changes made loss of 1.9 per cent in WA. These moves have drawn crit- to essentially the same stand- it through the WA has long been a happy icism from unions, which have ards as other publishers but hunting ground for the coalition argued they are punished for how this should occur parties, with only Queensland minor offences while big busi- now sending a higher pro- nesses are not. portion of conservatives to Resources industry Canberra. lobbyist Steve Knott Member for Tangney, Ben said the laws would Morton, was noted as a key reduce the cost of adviser to Mr Morrison during public infrastruc- the campaign. ture projects. Western defence delivers for feds Dr Nahan, who recently announced plans to retire in 2021, grew operational spending only 6.8 per cent in three budgets, after it lifted about 50 per cent in the previous six years. Stepping into the role of treasurer, Mr Wyatt implemented a $3.5 billion package, which included a continued tough wages policy, hikes to payroll tax, higher household charges and cuts to health. Under his leadership, spending growth has averaged about 2.4 per cent, according to budget documents, although recent stimulus announcements indi- cate a loosening of purse strings looms. Net debt is expected to peak this financial year, while a cash surplus of almost $1 billion is projected for the 2021 financial year. In operating terms, a measure that does not include capital expenditure, the budget was in surplus for the year ended in June. Mr Wyatt has scored two big wins on privatisations, with the lease of Landgate in September raising $1.4 billion, and the sale of the TAB passing par- liament in the same month. FIGHTER: Christian Porter is juggling some controversial legislation. Photo: Attila Csaszar FEATURE PERSON OF THE YEAR Unfinished business in 2019 to energise leaders An emerging battle for the future of WORK TO DO: Peter WA’s energy industry and efforts to Coleman (clockwise from left), Tom Hatton revive Perth’s street precincts have been and Paul Blackburne among the defining themes of 2019. have unfinished business as 2019 closes, while Matt Mckenzie He reflected on the negotia- Deborah Terry will be [email protected] tions with BHP on Scarborough pleased about her time @Matt_Mckenzie_ at a recent investor briefing. at Curtin. WESTERN Australia has posi- “It’s very, very competitive,” Mr tioned itself to play a key role in Coleman said. powering Asia through the 21st “They’re pretty good negotia- century, but visions of how that tors, there’s no doubt about it, and might look differ dramatically. the negotiation went over many, The traditional export indus- many months.” try of LNG, worth more than $30 A final investment decision on billion a year, is coming under Scarborough is due early next year, growing pressure from the envi- while contracts have been awarded ronmental movement, while to Boskalis Australia and Marube- battery metal lithium has its own ni-Itochu Tubulars Oceania. problems in a market awash with And Woodside has continued excess supply. to be technologically progressive, More broadly, WA’s economy is joining IBM’s quantum com- the same size as a year ago. puting network and running Two major LNG projects would the ruler over the potential of be big contributors to any revival, hydrogen. with Woodside Petroleum’s But the biggest test might be Browse to North West Shelf Ven- environmental.

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