Tales From Boomtown

Revised and Updated, with analysis by the ABC’s Antony Green.


Veteran political journalist Peter Kennedy has spent nearly fifty years observing twelve Premiers of Western Australia, across an extraordinary period of change in Western Australia’s history, from 1970 to 2019.

His insider account reveals issues linked with the jailing of two Premiers and a deputy Premier, the ruthless removal of a Premier mid-term, the election of the nation’s first female Premier, and the sensational ‘WA Inc’ Royal Commission.

With his distinctive style of commentary, Kennedy notes how the changes in the twelve Premiers reflect the development of the state, revealing the personal maneouverings linked with a number of key decisions.

Interviewing former Premiers, Prime Ministers and other national figures, the result is a lively book about how politics is played in the boom-bust West, still clearly an economic powerhouse of the twenty first century in Australia.

This updated and revised edition covers Mark McGowan’s first two years as WA Premier after a landslide victory over Colin Barnett in the 2017 state election. It also features a foreword by the ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, that addresses the need for reform in the Legislative Council.