IF THEY were watching on from above, the voters of 1933 would have liked what they saw on the banks of Perth's Swan River yesterday.

Nearly 80 years after a majority of West Australians voted in favour of seceding from the rest of the nation, mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest threw some petrol on a flame that has never fully extinguished in the west.

Upstaged: Andrew Forrest. Credit:Andrew Meares

As he addressed more than 500 small and mid-tier mining types, Mr Forrest began his speech with an anecdote from his recent audience with Treasurer Wayne Swan over that pesky mining tax.

''In the myopic unreality of Wayne's world, the Treasurer suggested to me that Western Australia - if didn't like this tax - should secede,'' he said.