Why we are backing NSW Premier Mike Baird
Date March 21, 2015 - 9:06PM
EDITORIAL
The voters of NSW face a difficult choice on March 28: between risk and safety.
They can choose to support an untried Labor leader who, while exceeding even his own expectations of performance and doing well to explain his modest policy offerings, nonetheless leads a party that has not used the past four years wisely. Nor has it reformed enough. Labor is still tied to unions and factional mates who place their interests ahead of the state's and the voters'.
But what about the risk of Premier Mike Baird's privatisation plan for the state's electricity poles and wires?
To his credit, Mr Baird has taken his highly unpopular policy to the people. In the face of a dishonest scare campaign by Labor and unions alleging power prices will rise under the deal, the Premier has made a strong case for leasing the 49 per cent of assets to unlock billions in funds for major projects. Still, he has questions to answer about his office's role in the handling of a report by investment bank UBS that concluded the the privatisation would be bad for the budget.
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Voters are also concerned about coal seam gas exploration and that the nation's biggest infrastructure project, the $14.4 billion WestConnex motorway plan, is not as good as it seems on paper.
Opinion polling in key seats for The Sun-Herald by ReachTEL shows that voters are torn on all these issues. The results in the new inner Sydney seat of Newtown, Strathfield - where Labor corruption whistle-blower Jodi Mackay is running - and Ballina on the north coast suggest the allocation of preferences will be crucial to the outcome of these seats, and voters are not listening to the government's message on privatisation.
Such is voter unease that the election for the upper house looms as crucial for either party to prosecute its agenda. The Sun-Herald implores voters to think wisely before following party diktat on preferences or supporting micro parties without knowing their background or platform. Then again, voters should recognise that for the past four years, with Labor in disarray following its landslide defeat in 2011, the most effective and extensive opposition has come from the upper house.
Labor's failure to rebuild until recently means that while the party is relying on some good health and education policy ideas, others are undeveloped. In addition, the NSW Labor leader did not have to face the voters before entering the upper house and now faces them for the first time as he tries to switch to the safe Labor electorate of Auburn in the lower house. He has never been a minister, either.
Voters should consider carefully whether it is worth the risk of going back to Labor when the alternative is to choose the safety of a Coalition government which, for all the clouds of corruption and reluctance to reform political donations laws thoroughly, has performed well on the economy.
Mr Baird ran the Treasury portfolio confidently, has had almost a year as Premier and remains very popular. And his popularity is likely to offset any policy reservations including about privatisation.
He retains a keen interest in social justice, notwithstanding the views of some in his party. In February the Fairfax-Ipsos poll put his approval rating at 60 per cent, even with the privatisation support running at 23 per cent and rising to just 47 per cent if the proceeds were used for infrastructure.
The Premier has more political capital upon which he can draw. Barring the emergence of misbehaviour linked to the UBS privatisation report, voters are entitled to trust Mr Baird to deliver on his platform with safety and surety. He also offers the best chance of giving NSW a strong voice in limiting the power of an increasingly dysfunctional and erratic federal government.
In 2015 Mr Foley remains a risk. In 2019, however, with more policy work and internal Labor Party reform, his time may come.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/why-we-are-backing-nsw-premier-mike-baird-20150321-1m4c2j.html