With redundancies sweeping through St Georges Terrace, the new definition of an optimist in once-was-Boomtown is a worker who brings their lunch in with them. 
The latest company to show a bunch of employees the door is BHP Billiton . Particularly hard hit was the (not-so) Big Australian's community relations bureau. 
Like many resource companies, BHP spends a huge amount on community projects to ensure nobody gets upset when they start digging holes in people's backyards. The Bull understands the miner's native title workers have also been thinned out. Knowing the inherent unreliability of our snouts, we cross checked our info with BHP.
"At the company's interim financial results in   February, BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie  announced a new operating model as the next step in simplifying the company," a BHP spokeswoman said. 
"The new operating model will see a number of support functions globalised and it is expected this will result in some roles being impacted across the BHP Billiton Group. We continue to engage with all employees on changes to the company's structure."
Sacking staff is never a good look so perhaps BHP should hire the spin doctors at West Perth outfit PPR , who showed they can put a positive on anything if required. 
Like at BHP's headquarters, the headcount at PPR isn't what it used to be.   Maybe that's why they have taken to Linkedin to spruik some spare office space at Carla  Shearman 's Altona Street office.
"You'll benefit from the opportunity to collaborate and be inspired, co-locating with Perth's premier PR agency in a dynamic workplace environment," the ad said. 
 Jay loses load 
The big board reshuffle at Gina Rinehart 's family company group continues apace after the departure of chief development officer John Klepec  from Hancock Prospecting  in   May. One of the winners from the resultant reshuffle was Hancock chief financial officer Jay Newby , who was promoted to an executive director's role.
The expansion of his role elsewhere appears to have got the long-time Rinehart loyalist off the hook from previous duties as company secretary to a plethora of the group's far-flung members. ASIC records show Newby stepped down as secretary of 45 companies on   July 1.
 top iron 
The fortunes of arguably the shortest-lived iron ore exporter in WA history look set for a further turn for the worse, as Alinta Energy  seeks to wind up Mid West producer Top Iron . The privately held company was been kicking around Geraldton since the height of the iron ore boom in 2010, trying to find a way to get its Mummaloo project into production.
Backed by Chinese steelmaker Shanxi Jianbang Group Company,  the company finally managed the feat in   March last year, after more than a few stutters and stops on the construction of processing facilities at the project.
But Top Iron got its first shipment away as the iron ore price plunged below $US50t for the first time last year, and had pulled stumps and ceased shipments by   August. 
While it is understood the bulk of its major contractors were paid what they were owed, if a little late, that's not the case for all.
Documents show Alinta lodged wind-up action in the Supreme Court in late   June over allegedly unpaid bills, with a hearing set down for   August 9.
 DIGGERS deal 
The countdown to the 25th Diggers and Dealers  conference is on. Chairman Nick Giorgetta   recently sent out an email burst to all and sundry letting them know that 45 companies will be doing formal presentations, 78 resources companies would be setting up corporate booths, alongside 56 service companies. There will be a strong showing of money men also. Start stockpiling the Berocca.
 BENCHMARK bid 
Project management is a tough gig in these austere times because, well, there aren't terribly many projects to manage.
It's enough to make you get on a plane and get drunk for a few days.
Which is exactly what the boss of East Perth-based Benchmark Projects  intends to do after successfully bidding for a five-day tour of France's great Champagne houses.
Chris Carman   was at Saturday night's 2016 Premier's Olympic Dinner - a swish affair at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre to raise funds for Australia's Olympic team. 
It may have been Carman's determination to help out the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos (he is a tragic for the sport).
It may have been that he had pre-emptively downed a couple of Moets.
Regardless, he woke up the next day $27,500 lighter.
"I may have been persuaded to put in a bid," he said when the Bull tracked him down.
The donation will hopefully help our Olympians achieve gold. It will definitely help Carman and his wife of four years better appreciate the nuances of Moet & Chandon, GH Mumm and Petrrier-Jouet.
 good sense 
Well done to local head shrinkers PeopleSense , which was named Telstra WA Business of the Year last Friday. Staff from the Subiaco-based psychological consultancy head to Sydney for the national awards next month.
 GRYLLS back? 
Will he or won't he? 
Students of WA politics (get a life, people) have been wondering for a while now whether royalties for regions architect and hero of the bush Brendon Grylls  will make a tilt at not just the front bench but also leadership of the party.
The Bull is a terrible political analyst so we will let you make your own minds up after reading an excerpt from a frank and impassioned speech he delivered in the Pilbara this week in which he detailed the reasons for quitting the top job in 2013 for a quieter life on the back bench. 
"You start off in your political career ... you want every journalist to ring you ... and argue with them and try and win your point and win the day and you get to the point towards the end of your career, and I've watched very good West Australians do that, Jim McGinty  was one and Alannah MacTiernan  was another, where you essentially want to yell at the journalists and tell them to get stuffed. And once you start yelling at the journalists and telling them to get stuffed, that's the end of your political career - you just haven't announced it yet. 
"I decided to pre-empt that and that's why in 2016, standing on the podium in front of you, I am now back in a state of mind that has me thinking about policy and agendas and GST shares and growth of Pilbara cities and all of the things I was doing back prior to 2008, because I didn't actually stick around to the point where I just yelled at journalists.
"I got to burnout. I said 'I'll recognise this early', and now I'm not burnt out any more, and that's why I'm standing in front of you ... thinking about how West Australians can get a better share of the GST, how I can continue to win the arguments of 50,000 people living in the Pilbara's port city and making sure I'm ready for the sparring I will get when Peter van Onselen rings me from Sky News."
Watch out Terry Redman .
With Rebecca Parish and Nick Evans