Maxine McKew's link to John Watkins spells danger

FOR the past 10 months, the Deputy Premier of NSW, John Watkins, has devoted himself to mentoring former ABC star Maxine McKew, Labor's candidate for Bennelong.The state member for Ryde has taken on the role of Minister for Maxine in addition to his Transport and Finance portfolios.The ALP must be hoping he has greater success in this new role than he has had with his former and current ministries.

Long-suffering NSW voters would be aware Watkins' solution to the transport crisis has been to accept more late trains and stretch the time that late-running trains can lag behind timetables before they are officially classified as late. They would recall his "never again" promise after a critical CityRail failure brought a train to a halt in the middle of the Harbour Bridge, only for that "never again" promise to be broken within weeks when another maintenance failure stopped another train in almost the same spot. They would be aware that up to 90 bus services a day are cancelled without warning and they are unlikely to have forgotten those drivers who called a two-day strike in his Ryde electorate just two months ago. They would also be aware that the construction of key rail links which was to be completed by 2010 has not yet begun and that sufficient funds have still to be allocated to them. Watkins more recently achieved a modicum of international infamy when he declared Sydney didn't want the APEC conference, that it "will provide nothing tangible to the good people of Sydney and the business community of Sydney", when the business community was already hailing the summit's successes. The APEC remark truly betrays the petty parochialism which drives both the ALP generally, the NSW branch more particularly, and Watkins' venal insularity most especially. As a local member he may be better remembered as the Finance Minister who wrote to his own constituents boasting of the NSW Government's achievements in the health area, with emphasis on troubled Ryde Hospital. Under his ministry, the NSW Finance Department has boasted its success after saving money through chopping health services. As the Minister for Maxine however, Watkins has always been available for a photo shoot with the former media performer and Labor cheer leader, whether it's a stroll through Eastwood, or a visit to a local school. Indeed, his stellar tandem performances at the Ermington Public School fete, the Eastwood Public School fete, and the Denistone East Public School fete, among others, suggests he is spending far more time feting McKew around the electorate than he is taking care of the problems faced in his portfolios. There is also the very serious question of the degree of his knowledge, when he was police minister, of the nasty rumours which circulated about former colleague Milton Orkopoulos. Watkins, as leader of the Left faction, would have almost certainly been aware of the stories about the alleged child sex offender, but there is no evidence that he ever took any action. As The Weekend Australian reported last November 11, Watkins, a factional ally of Orkopoulos on Labor's "soft Left", refused to answer a question on whether he had heard rumours involving Orkopoulos. Nonetheless, the NSW police had begun and abandoned an investigation of allegations against Orkopoulos in July last year and when it reopened its investigation and proceeded with charges, then police commissioner Ken Moroney tipped off the Labor Government 36 hours before it brought charges against the then Aboriginal affairs minister. Perhaps McKew could resume her former ABC role for a few moments and and ask Watkins about the Orkopoulos matter and the police commissioner's convenient advance warning? It might be that McKew, who was convinced of Mark Latham's brilliance at the time of the last election, finds something of the same spirit in her party minder, or perhaps he is merely a local door opener for the blow-in candidate. Whatever the reason for their association, local voters should carefully consider the judgment of a candidate who spends so much time in the company of an individual who has so disastrously and so serially failed the people of NSW.