Those of us who live in the (soon to be former) electorate of Yokine are fortunate to have Bob Kucera as our local State Government Member of Parliament.  He is an outstanding representative and a very decent person.

Today, having been shafted by the factional interests of the Labour Party and closed out of the preselection process for our next election, Mr Kucera resigned from his party and resolved to confront the electorate as an independent candidate.

I am delighted.  We currently have an unelectable opposition that is an embarrasement to the Liberal Party, and an arrogant Government.  It has been commented that Blind Freddy could manage the WA booming economy, but our current administration has not capitalised on the opportunity.  It has mismanaged big infrastructure projects, made a stupid decision about our stadium, overtaxed business through payroll and homebuyers through stamp duty, stifled regional economic growth, bloated the public sector with unsustainable and inflationary initiatives like the Office of Shared Services, imposed daylight saving, capitulated on deregulated trading, and allowed lobbyists and union dominated controllers to influence its decision making. 

The bad news is there is no alternative, and because of this we are likely to see an election, possibly in two months time.  That allows the Government to be reelected before the bugbears come out of the closet (Mandurah rail law suits, Fiona Stanley hospital budget blowout, OSS technology disaster etc etc etc).

As for Mr Kucera, he has made a wise choice.  He will likely win his seat, as will Sue Walker and other independents.  Maybe we have the makings of a coalition of independents to bring some accountability to our Parliament?

Mr Kucera has been a supporter of the Local Jewish community.  He has represented many issues of the community, attended events of the community, and is genuinely interested in helping where he can.  Last year he attended the Rambam program in Israel, and his written report of this experience, available as a link from JIW, is a brilliant summation of potential trade and cooperative opportunities that Israel and Western Australia could both benefit from. 

Prior to this morning I was wondering how to support Bob Kucera without supporting Labour.  I now have the answer, and have no doubt that the majority of voters in this electorate feel the same way.