NSW is less than 18 months from an election and the government has just had its best re-election asset taken out. Gladys is gone. Anyone who thinks that being re-elected for a fourth term is only about pork-barrelling needs to take a critical look at the last election and a few before that.

Reform plans mostly frighten the horses and are best left unspoken while appeals to (often unspoken) core values never go astray, as John We Will Decide Who Comes To This Country Howard confirmed. Elections are times to comfort people by confirming their expectations, shore up local jobs if these are in doubt and not trouble them with new ideas the other team can smash.