Colin Barnett, the newly re-elected premier of Western Australia, has acted on his pre-election promise to take personal responsibility for science in the state.
Barnett revealed his cabinet line-up on 20 March, announcing that science would sit in his state development portfolio. Ahead of the election, he said that one of his main objectives if re-elected would be to move the Western Australian economy beyond mining and oil towards science, particularly by building links with Asia.