Poles and wires sell-off: NSW Premier Mike Baird has done what Bob Carr, Michael Egan, Morris Iemma and Barry O’Farrell could not

BOB Carr, Michael Egan and Morris Iemma dreamt about it but were blocked. Barry O’Farrell baulked. Now NSW Premier Mike Baird has done it and he has $40 billion reasons to smile.

BOB Carr, Michael Egan and Morris Iemma dreamt about it but were blocked. Barry O’Farrell baulked. Now NSW Premier Mike Baird has done it.

The staggering sales of Transgrid and Ausgrid (with Endeavour still to come) — the electricity “poles and wires” — have given this state the biggest infrastructure bonanza in its history.

The government has recorded no net debt this year and a record surplus. Now it could be $40 billion better off once Endeavour is sold.

“NSW is back baby,” Baird yelled across the chamber during parliament sittings yesterday.

Baird in the Bear Pit. The NSW Premier has done something many of his predecessors dreamt of.

The roads, rail links, hospitals and schools the state needs as Sydney alone looks to grow to six million people by 2036 are well on the way.

And Baird has the mother of all war chests to take to a 2019 election — a frightening thought for his opponents. The lift in government ranks yesterday was palpable.

It was the most buoyant mood the government MPs have been in all year — shouting, hollering and cheering in Question Time.

There was widespread scepticism as to whether the sales would raise the $20 billion the government promised at the 2015 state election. But they are about to raise double.

Former Treasurer Michael Egan and then Premier Bob Carr in 2004

Former Premier of NSW Barry O'Farrell

Former Premier Morris Iemma

Hard to believe a week ago Baird was having his worst day in the job, apologising for getting it wrong over the greyhound racing ban.

“I’ll say to those opposite, a week is a long time in politics,” Baird said to the cheers of the government benches.

$10 billion Western Metro Rail Link is Baird’s next big project

To top off the day, Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian announced the state’s jobless rate was the lowest for four years — 4.9 per cent. No coincidence as pump-priming of the economy due to asset sales is helping the state boom.

“You can’t handle the truth but we got a cracker price,” Ms Berejiklian told Labor, who were attempting to hassle her over the fact the sale had not gone to tender a second time after the Chinese were blocked from buying it.