.cccordance with Premier attraction

When he was a boy OLIN Barnett sinks into a big, next election and the opportunity to win. The difference comfortable chair in the family with politics compared to most other professions is that Opposition Leader room of his Claremont home and everything you do is public. talks openly about the low points of "Lots of people have frustrations and disappointments Colin Barnett wanted his leadership. His darkest moment and triumphs and failures but in politics everything is to be a farmer - was when he came under fire over public. That is the magnifying effect of politics. a Government plan for taxpayers to "If you're in it, you're dealing with it and perhaps and there have been fund political parties and elections. Mr Barnett made develop a bit of a thick skin but the media magnify it the mistake of offering his support to the Government so the people closest to you see a magnified version and times in the past before his own party had considered it. Liberal MPs they perhaps see it as a little more traumatic than what rejected the idea and publicly criticised their leader. it really is." three years when "I was getting belted around over the public funding Mr Barnett is a political enigma who confounds not issue. It wasn't so much the issue, it was the intensity only his Labor opponents but fellow Liberals. He is not he probably wished of it," Mr Barnett says. "When someone like (Liberal what you might call a typical conservative MP. he had, GRAHAME backbencher) Rod Sweetman comes out and calls you Few West Australians, apart from his family, really a liar, I mean, I wasn't too impressed. That got to me a know or understand him. His wife Lyn extols his easy­ ARMSTRONG profiles little bit. It was sustained intensity. That got to me and going nature. the family noticed that." "He's enormous fun but people actually don't see that. the man who hopes to His eldest son Russell was camping with some of his You can give him a hard time and he'll cop it sweet. I mates down at Augusta when he read a story in The give him a hard time all the time," she says. be Premier. Sunday Times about his father being called a liar by one Mr Barnett is happy to talk about his political beliefs of his own colleagues. and what sort of a leader he would make but is less "My oldest son rang me up and said 'Dad, are you comfortable explaining why he went into politics, who okay?'. That was when I realised it was affecting other his political influences were and what underpins his people," he says. "I don't come home in despair ... I political philosophy. It's not a criticism - it's just that mean we talk about it but we don't despair." the Liberal leader is not interested in such background The Opposition Leader insists he is not looking for trivia. Getting the job done is what drives him. sympathy and says the rough and tumble of political life Mr Barnett was never big on books. He is more likely is often exaggerated. to be found mending a fence on his farm at Toodyay than "Everyone says it's the toughest job in politics," he reading Margaret Thatcher's memoirs. But as a young says. "It's the most frustrating job. The problem is it's man he read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, such a long hauL which left a lasting impression because it was "a great "As Opposition Leader what you're waiting for is the story about the struggle of people in the Depression".

Liberal leader Colin Barnett at home with He's enormous fun but people actually don't see that his wife Lyn, left, and the couple, with baby son Sam, below, on the hustings during the 1g90 Cottesloe by-election. Mr Barnett lives with his second wife Lyn and their son Sam, 14. He also has three sons from his first marriage: Russell, 32, Daniel, 28, and Michael, 22. The family home, a white, 1920s two-storey brick home, is planked hard against Stirling Highway. The traffic noise is very noticeable. The house is impressive enough but modest, too, alongside some of the palatial buildings in the neighbourhood. The interior is spacious, with polished floorboards, white walls, high, ornate ceilings and some unusual looking Scandinavian wooden furniture. The interior is best described, Mr Barnett says, as art deco. One of the best features - apart from an 1850s Swedish carpenter's bench decorated with a Dyak wood carving from Kalimantan is a cosy theatre room decked out with a wide-screen and big, comfy chairs. Mr Barnett walks into the kitchen and opens the door to the pantry, which has a window. "This is where Eric Edgar Cooke used to break in," he says with a smile, and a hint of pride. Apparently, serial killer Cook - who was hanged in 1964 - would come in through the pantry window, walk around the house and then sit on a lounge chair. He never stole anything. Almost directly across the road are the Brookwood Flats where jillian Brewer was brutally murdered - a crime Cook confessed to shortly before he was hanged. The house is also not far from where Mr Barnett grew up in the 1950s and '60s. Mr Barnett is friendly bur guarded with those who »

THE SUNDAY TIMES, July 18, 2004 11-(3 sr~ ft(~SC<5-~ » don't know him. He's also wary of reporters. Like Cortesloe to replace Bill Hassell. "When I told Dad I Premier Geoff Gallop, he does not have the charisma was going into politics he said: 'Who'd vote for you?'," dt~;;:;~:~i,!:;:l~,:'f;~E:?,i,'i::,i=:~:: of a Bob Hawke or Sir Robert Menzies. Mr Barnett laughs. f Growing up, Mr Barnett never felt politics was his The Barnett household was undoubtedly Liberal, Mr Barnett has not always seen eye-to-eye with his f destiny. He was 40 when he ran for Parliament for no and one that instilled old-fashioned values into the beloved Liberal Party. other reason than he believed he could get things done. Opposition Leader. "I guess in my university days I was nearly called up He has never been part of the Perth establishment, "Dad didn't much like the idea of unions," he says. for national service; I wasn't too well disposed towards which might explain why some Liberal MPs and high­ "Dad had very straight up and down values about the Liberal Party at that time," he says. profile party supporters either don't trust him or honesty - be a man, sort of thing. It was very much "I think that was the only time my mother ever voted misunderstand him. He's also a republican, which is still what I would call that World War II ethos, where you Labor, when she thought I was going to be drafted. rare in the Liberal Party. And his so-called "moderate" do the right thing. " "People who describe themselves as the right wing of views on social issues often put him off-side with the At primary school, Mr Barnett, by his own admission, the Liberal Party tend to be extremely conservative on more hard-line Liberals. was an average student until Year S when he started to social issues - that's not me. But in terms of economic One reason, says close confidant Richard Lewis, a excel. At high school he enjoyed history, geography and policy I' d be one of the drier ones. former Liberal planning minister, is that Mr Barnett economics and, although he doesn't quite know how, "My father was pro-business and pro-farming, you was never the "chosen one". He wasn't expected to gained a distinction in chemistry. know get on with it and take responsibility for get the deputy leadership under Richard Court in 1993 He studied geology at the University ofWA but didn't yourself. I am economically quire dry but I have a social when he'd been in the Parliament only three years. like it and dropped out to work on the wheat bins. conscience and probably a stronger one than many Mr Court's supporters failed - with a brazen attempt He later went back to UWA to study economics, Liberals. to parachute federal MP Julie Bishop into the leadership gaining an honours and a masters degree. It was here "I believe in people making their own choices and - to block Mr Barnett's elevation to the top job. that the Opposition Leader's basic political beliefs - the decisions and the freedom to do that. "He's highly intelligent and he's a little bit self­ free market and economic development - started to "You take that through to business - 1 believe in free conscious about it in a way," Mr Lewis said. "People take shape. enterprise. I don't like regulation. I hate regulation." see it as arrogance but it's not. If anything he's shy." But running for office never crossed his mind at Mr Lewis, a close personal and political friend, says When. told Dad • was going into politics he said: 'Who'd vote for you?'

Economic development underpins all of Mr Barnett's university. He was too busy studying and playing Mr Barnett is determined and dogged. He occasionally political philosophy. When asked why West Australians football to get involved in student politics. annoys party powerbrokers because he can't be should vote for the Liberal Party in February he Even now he struggles to name a political figure manipulated and is not afraid to speak his mind, even if answers without hesitation: "I think they will get better who influenced or inspired him. And there were no he goes against the official party line. government. They will get a government that makes compelling reasons why at the age of 40 he suddenly "He has quite a deep social conscience," Mr Lewis decisions and can do things. Western Australians love decided to go into politics. says. "He's certainly no silver-spoon guy. He does care to see things happen. If I get to be premier of this ·'1 did Karl Marx (founder of communism) and for people. He has common sense and sticks to his state, I want to be remembered as a can-do premier, a Adam Smith (Scottish economist and philosopher who principles. Whar you see is what you get. commonsense one and a compassionate one. " advocated free trade) and bits and pieces so there was "He understands that if you are going to give out Mr Barnett's upbringing was middle class. He went to economic and social history," he says. social security, for want of a better word, you've got to government schools: Nedlands Primary and Hollywood "I was very much a market-oriented economist so have an economy that can support it." High. His father, who was tough and strict with young there was a lot of political philosophy in that. Much of Mr Barnett's spare time is spent on the Colin, was aclerk with a cigarette company. He bought "The person I admired at the time in local politics family's 4Sha sheep stud farm at Toodyay, where he a block of land in Dalkeith at the end of the war. was David Brand. I just thought he was a very decent runs about 120 Damara sheep, a South African breed. "I reckon we were probably just about the lowest­ person; he was modest and he got things done. "I've always liked farms. When I was a kid I wanted ro income family in Dalkeith," Mr Barnett says. "My "When I was with the Chamber of Commerce I was be a farmer, that was my ambition," he says. parents really couldn't afford, even if they wanted to, involved in economic and public debate and I was "While [ grew up in the city I love the country. That's to send me to private school. 1wanted to go to Scotch, drawn into it (politics). why the first 18 months in Opposition I virtually drove mainly because of football and sport. "I didn't go in with any burning ambition. If I can from country town to country town. I don't like getting "But there's no way we ever did without. Dad always say so, I thought I was confident. I thought I was a into planes, I like driving in the country and I like being had a second-hand car. The first time he got a new car person who could get things done. There was no noble in the country. I love the land and the feel of it." was when he retired and got his superannuation. ambition to fight for a cause. I very much believed in One of his political strengths is the ability to deliver "Our holidays were driving around the Wheatbelt economic development and I was doing that at the speeches without notes. An economics professor once and staying in the old Commercial hotels, that sort of Chamber of Commerce." told him he should be able to walk into a lecture theatre thing. We didn't go on holidays to Sydney or Singapore Mr Barnett left university for Canberra, having won and talk without a written speech. but we lived very well. We had a nice house in a nice a scholarship with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. "This American professor bullied me into doing it suburb and went to good schools. We were a typical, He returned to Perth to lecture economics at Curtin without notes," he says. "It was the best favour anyone middle-class family." University, spending some time as a visiting fellow at ever did for me. In 1990 he decided to seek election in the seat of the University of Warwick in England. "That was a bit intimidating but bear in mind I was 25 Colin Barnett as an economist at the WA Chamber of Commerce and industry, above, and with his 14-year-old son, Sam, right.

or 26, and I was walking into a lecture theatre with 400 people and most of them would have been 30-plus. "I have never ever done a talk where I have walked in with notes since that time. I do a lot of preparation, I do a lot of work beforehand. I'll get up in the morning or work at night and I'll sort of cram it into my head. It's a good discipline and it gets harder but it drives my staff mad sometimes because it means more preparation. "I haven't read a speech, ever. I'm sure the day will come when I completely stuff one up but it hasn't happened yet." Mr Barnett is under no illusions about how difficult it will be for the conservatives to win. He points out that there has only been one government tipped out of office after one term in the state's history and that was the Tonkin Labor Government in 1974. "What a lot of people don't appreciate is that in the 2001 election, the Liberal vote dropped 9 per cent and we lost 13 seats," Mr Barnett says. "To win the next election we only have to win half of that back. In that sense, it's closer than people think." He will stand aside as Liberal leader if he fails to nnseat Dr Gallop in February when the next state election is due. "I don't think there's mnch future for former leaders," he says. "I really don't. I just don't think you stay around. It's one shot, I've made that very clear." And if that happens you'll probably find him down on the farm. 0