Between April 2001 and July 2004, I was engaged as Principal Research Officer in the Legislative Assembly with the Parliament of Western Australia.

As a senior parliamentary officer, I had high level contacts with Members of Parliament and with senior executives, including chief executives, in a range of agencies in the public sector including environmental and resource management agencies.

In my first year with the Parliament I was appointed to work with the Joint Standing Committee on the Anti-corruption Commission (JSCACC - now replaced by the JSC on the Crime and Corruption Commission.)

From July 2002 I worked with the Economics and Industry Standing Committee (EISC). Members of the Committee are:

Mr Tony McRae MLA
Hon. John Day, MLA
Mr John Bowler MLA
Mr Bernie Masters, MLA
Mr Mick Murray MLA

My main duties included: directing research into the Strata Title management industry, developing a method of managing the oversight of 58 agencies within the EISC portfolio (including revision of annual reports), organising a national conference on behalf of the EISC on the sustainability of regional development and directing research into the sustainability of the dairy industry in Western Australia.

When I left the Parliament in July 2004, the Committee was undertaking two inquiries, one into energy efficieny and renewable energy, and a second into Vanadium mining at Windimurra.

As PRO to the JSCACC, I was privileged to attend the Conferences on Justice and Governance and on Police Reform held in by the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice & Governance at Griffith University in July 2001, and participated in the International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Prague in October 2001 - pictured here with the Hon. Barbara Scott, MLC and the Hon Derrick Tomlinson, MLC.

Politics is a funny thing - the websites opposite have some interesting stuff

http://www.crikey.com.au

http://thestoppedclock.blogspot.com/

Good government should be assisted by well written legislation that is about outcomes and not prescriptive, and where possible this is best achieved with just the right amount of words - an example from the US helps explain this.

* Pythagorean theorem: ... 24 words.
* Lord's prayer: ... 66 words.
* Archimedes' Principle: ... 67 words.
* 10 Commandments: ... 179 words.
* Gettysburg address: ... 286 words.
* Declaration of Independence: ... 1,300 words.
* US Government regulations on the sale of cabbage: ... 26,911 words.

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Created: January 25, 2004

Last updated: August 12, 2006