having managed to bump its old foe Don Farrell out of the Senate, the Premier successfully ended his public life altogether by denying him a safe state seat.

He then had the gall to actually win the election, and in between governing the state he has continued much as he left off.

This week, he thwarted the aspirations of Tom Koutsantonis advisor Michael Brown by essentially tearing up a factional agreement to install him as Bernie Finnigan’s replacement in the Upper House. In his place, Labor will have another Right-winger, Peter Malinauskas, and Weatherill will have another cabinet heavy-hitter.

For the Premier can do much as he likes by his party, and he knows it.

So if the Premier is serious about showcasing the best possible cabinet, he should turn his factionalwrecking campaign on his own faction, and demote one of his Upper House colleagues.

When he was given the chance to save the Labor Government (or more realistically to limit the size of the expected 2014 defeat), he exceeded the expectations of even the most wide-eyed optimists on the party’s Right, who aren’t known for their wide-eyed optimism.

He led as someone with nothing to lose. He publicly threatened to quit on the eve of an election if he did not get his way on Farrell. What were they going to do? Sack him?


And now he is unassailable as Premier. He almost literally can’t lose. Bizarrely given the state’s economic performance, he remains a mile ahead in the polls. Barring something exceptional, he will certainly contest the next election as