LIBERAL DOPE PROTEST RUNS OUT OF PUFF

MAYBE it was the rain. Let's hope it was the rain - at least for Colin
Barnett's sake.

If not, yesterday's turnout on the steps of Parliament House means the
Opposition Leader has seriously misjudged the community's care factor over
Labor's cannabis reforms.

Take away the journalists, Liberal MPs, police and Parliament House staff,
and the State Opposition would have been lucky to have mustered 50 people.

Based on that dismal turnout, Monday night's Liberal-arranged public
meeting on cannabis reform was positively teeming.

About 75 people turned up at the North City Christian Centre in Padbury for
that gig.

It was heartbreaking yesterday to watch Mr Barnett talk up the numbers at
the Parliament steps as an outpouring of community anger.

But to be fair, this apparent apathy is not restricted to the anti-cannabis
brigade.

A pro-marijuana law reform rally attracted only 15 people to the steps of
Parliament House last August.

Each side of the argument seems to have its passionate advocates, but
neither can muster up similar passions in the broader community.

What the Opposition needs is not a ragtag gathering of mostly religious
interests waving duplicates of the same photocopied placards.

It needs a balltearer of a protest - something along the lines of the 1991
Rally for Justice, where 30,000 people, most of whom were not victims of
crime themselves, turned up to make a point.

Shock jock Howard Sattler was a big force behind that show of public
anger. He was also spruiking yesterday's rally but was unable to convince
listeners to take to the streets this time around.

The State Opposition is nevertheless trumpeting Labor's cannabis law
reforms as the issue that could topple the Government and is boosted by the
sentiments of talkback radio audiences.

"This is the defining issue between me and Geoff Gallop," Mr Barnett said
to the anti-reform gathering yesterday and repated in the corridors of
Parliament House later in the afternoon.

For much of this week he has shared his audience with British drug
counsellor Julie Fawcett, who was flown in to Perth courtesy of WA Liberal MPs.

Mr Barnett forked out for her airfare, Opposition drug abuse spokesman
Simon O'Brien paid for accomodation and other Liberal MPs picked up the rest.

They say it shows that they believe enough in the issue to put their hands
in their pockets and their trust in a stranger. They stress she is not
simply singing their song because of the free trip.

Ms Fawcett is a passionate speaker. She has done the media rounds, spoken
at the meetings and condemned the Government's cannabis plans.

There is no reason to doubt her experience or her predictions of what will
happen.

But even this guest of WA Liberal gratitude is not having the impact the
Liberals hoped.

Their campaign against the Government has been running for months but has
had little effect. If Westpolls are any guide, it has been quite the reverse.

In a poll earlier this year, 46 per cent of people interviewed opposed the
State Government's plans, down from 56 per cent and 53 per cent in
Westpolls held in March last year and December 2001.

Mr Barnett is undeterred. He believes he is on a winner and will carry his
cannabis fight to the next election, along with campaigning on Labor's tax
increases and the pet political topics of health and law and order.

He needs a couple of killer issues if he wants to knock the Government off
its perch and Labor's own advice is they will be struggling at the next
election.

Labor's inability to boost its popularity in the polls is causing
considerable angst within the party, compounded by the recent electoral
redistribution which is expected to cost it at least two seats.

State secretary Bill Johnston reported to caucus last week that the
redistribution would hurt Labor.

Mr Barnett is banking on cannabis to create a "Labor is soft on drugs"
theme for the next election.

Based on yesterday's turnout, there are about 50 votes in it so far. Maybe
when the rain clears ...