Dead in the water and two more years of Labor to go
THURSDAY March 26 marks the halfway mark of the NSW Labor Government. More tears than laughter, more pessimism than optimism.
Two years ago the people of NSW voted to retain Morris Iemma as premier not knowing that the trade union movement, led by then UnionsNSW boss John Robertson, had other undemocratic plans. The people's vote counted for nothing as far as the thugs who really run the ALP were concerned. In an act of unprincipled bastardry they voted against a rational decision to partially privatise the state's electricity industry and set in motion a series of moves which undermined Iemma, leading to his resignation and replacement with the current incumbent Nathan Rees. The removal of the elected official leadership of a nation or state is usually regarded as a coup but when the factional leaders and union bosses changed the leadership of NSW it was regarded as just more Labor politics. That the taxpayers were not consulted was irrelevant. As Rees lags in the polls, the Labor machine might yet dump him in favour of Carmel Tebbutt and the state will have its second unelected leader within the four-year fixed term of office. While Labor is wholly focused on manipulating the voters into believing change of office-holders is evidence of smart politics, no one is actually governing NSW. The true state of NSW can be glimpsed through the prism of tables prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which last month noted that NSW was "the weakest performing state in 2007-2008" with an "economic growth rate significantly lower than any other state". The ABS said "NSW experienced one of the lowest rates of employment growth and wages growth in the country, combined with the second highest growth rate in bankruptcies after Tasmania". Most of this was due to factors that were in place before the global fiscal stuff-up was around to provide a convenient scapegoat. Stripped of the fig leaf of the global crisis, NSW has had the worst performing economy of all the states and territories for years for the following reasons - it has the highest taxes, it has a crumbling infrastructure and it is run by a political party that should not be permitted to own a credit card. The failure of NSW to capitalise on the Olympic investment is one of the most dismal examples of the abject failure of Labor as a responsible government. It must be remembered that many of the former players in the NSW Labor Government which has held office since 1995 are now in Canberra working in the Federal Rudd Labor Government. Their legacy in NSW is evident. The Rees Government is so poorly-run it has not yet been able to draw up plans to meet the current fiscal crisis. In recent decades, the people of NSW have been able to look smug as first South Australia, then Victoria, were crippled by fiscal failures of their own political making. Now NSW is the laughing stock. And the people of NSW have to suffer two more years before they will have the opportunity to exercise their will and determine who should govern them. It is two years too long.