Don't for a moment think that Mike Nahan's outrage this week over the Nationals' decision to not support the sale of the Fremantle Port is about state debt in his capacity as treasurer. It's not.
I believe it's about one thing and one thing only - a tilt for the top job.
"No," you say. "Colin Barnett is secure as ever, right?"
While every potential future premier in this government has certainly fallen by the way-side (Porter, Buswell, Nalder, Hames…) and Colin Barnett has therefore looked solid for a long time, the Liberal Party hasn't always been so "stable". For those new to the state or politics, here's a quick bit of history.
After losing Government in 2001, the Liberals elected Colin Barnett to lead them. He did so for four years until they lost the next election in March 2005. Although that loss was widely blamed on a relatively small printing error that saw column of numbers left off a fact sheet he circulated regarding his "canal from the north" proposal, it was probably more about the way Mr Barnett chose to respond to the journalists who spotted the error – with a somewhat arrogant, "you're wrong, I'm right" position.
Anyhow, he resigned as leader of the opposition and young gun Matt Birney took over. He had charisma, charm, good looks and unfortunately for him, a youthful naivety that eventually led to him making some embarrassing errors of judgement (who can forget him suggesting the Pope could "bring his partner" to an event live on air!).
Eventually, the restless and impatient backbench rolled Mr Birney and replaced him with party veteran and head kicker, Paul Omodei. Mr Omodei was a country bloke. And while that was refreshing to some, others wanted him to speak like the slick, suit-wearing city slicker that they thought should be at the head of the pro-business party that was the Liberals.
So as was becoming quite routine now, the staff in Parliament House soon packed their desks waiting for the outcome of a party room meeting that saw Mr Omodei replaced by the bright, fast talking Troy Buswell. We don't really need to rehash how his term as leader went, suffice to say that only two or so months out from the 2008 election, Colin Barnett was re-installed as leader in the hope that he might be able to give the Liberals a chance against the then flailing Carpenter Labor government – which they did with the help of the Nationals.
The important part of this quick history lesson is that the last time the WA Liberals were in opposition, they were a mess. In less than four years, they had five leaders. Indeed, there was one south of the river backbencher who became known as "Matchie" because his house was chosen to host many of the reported BBQs at which the numbers were done for each of the new leaders.
While Colin Barnett's stranglehold on the leadership has been strong ever since, this week's vocal and relentless criticism by Treasurer Mike Nahan of the Nationals for choosing to not support the proposed sale of the Fremantle Port makes one think that the cobwebs might very well be cleaned off the old number-crunching BBQ this Easter long weekend.
Party insiders have been talking about Mike Nahan's ambition for leadership for a long time. But like most of the rumours around who might succeed Colin Barnett, we haven't – until this week – seen any outward evidence of his willingness and ability to "bring it on".
And in going on the attack with regard to the Nationals' latest declaration of independence, Mr Nahan has provided a very clear difference between himself and the incumbent – should anyone in the party room be considering a change.
Unlike Colin Barnett, who was personally responsible for the deal that not only gives the Nationals three ministers but also the ability to do exactly what they have done with regard to the sale of the Fremantle Port, Mike Nahan has thrown down the gauntlet over their ability to apparently avoid being tarred with bad news and spend most of their days handing out cheques in their electorates thanks to the overly generous Royalties for Regions deal.
Alas, I don't believe Mike Nahan is breaking the Barnett diplomatic silence out of frustration - it's a carefully planned message to the pile of disaffected backbenchers and growing number of former ministers to demonstrate that they have an alternative to Colin Barnett. And based on the strength of his words over the last few days, Mr Nahan may believe pulling back some of the power Colin Barnett gave to the Nationals is a vote-winner among his parliamentary colleagues.
As they say, in politics, a week is a long time – especially if the premier might be planning to throw more ministers on the very tall scrap heap on Tuesday.
Darren Brown is a former Chief of Staff in the Barnett Government and the owner of Squeaky Wheel Communications
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