All aboard. The Western Australian election train has left the station, and Premier Alan Carpenter is in the engine-driver’s seat, complete with a full complement of crew in all the carriages.

Stock standard among the traditional government PR tactics is the major weekend initiative. First off was the today’s announcement of the fast-tracking of a major arterial road overpass at Noranda. The $72m project has been brought forward several years. No, it’s not connected to the election, says Carps. Yeah, right.

Surrounded by new Labor candidates and Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannaha MacTiernan, the Premier did the obligatory kerb-side media conference, complete with cut-away shots of himself and the team walking around the “blackspot”.

I don’t reckon anyone buys this vote-buying rubbish in this day and age. These PR tactics should be consigned to the history books.