Protesters illustrate the chaos of Premier’s Cabinet process

POLITICAL staffers and advancers can spend days sweating over locations for announcements so when Premier Gladys Berejiklian arrived to announce her new Cabinet she knew the protesters were not a good look.

• Four go as Gladys wields the axe
• Duncan Gay jumps before he is pushed

POLITICAL staffers and advancers can spend days sweating over locations for announcements.

Backdrops can often say more than the pollie fronting the cameras.

There is a powerful visual shorthand that comes into play.

Construction sites, hard hats and hi-vis say MPs are working hard and getting things done at a practical level.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro announcing the NSW Government’s new Cabinet as protesters work to derail the announcement. Picture: Kym Smith

When not blatantly and cynically used as political props, hospital patients and school kids can humanise announcements and convey the impression a minister is in touch with the community and considering and listening to everyone from the ground up.

Equally, the location a politician settles on can say all the things they would rather not.

The latter was definitely the case today when Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro stood up in Queanbeyan to announce the new Cabinet they had spent days agonising over.

Ms Berejiklian was forced to talk over the protesters constant attempts to interrupt her. Picture: Kym Smith

As the Premier and the Deputy Premier did their best to convince the state that their new-look team would be strong, united and get the wheels of government moving without issue, a motley collection of protesters worked just as hard to derail the press conference.

The group were railing against the government’s council mergers.

Constantly searching for opportunities to interrupt, they were an unwelcome and unanticipated distraction that likely had several staffers furrowing their brows.

One of the many elephants in the room had taken the form of sign-waving protesters. Ms Berejiklian is yet to put a definitive plan on the table in relation to council amalgamations — a sticking point with Mr Barilaro who publicly and loudly voiced concerns about the policy in the aftermath of Mike Baird declaring his plans to retire from politics.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro talking with protesters in Queanbeyan, NSW. Picture Kym Smith

Importantly, the DIY signs and calamity only helped visually illustrate the chaos of the Cabinet process itself.

Ministers were dumped — some of whom pre-empted the formal announcement with public missives of their own — while headscratchers like “Minister for WestConnex” were added to the mix, presumably in a bid to appease.

The Premier’s press conference ran for more than 20 minutes, during which she had lots to say. But the bizarre backdrop behind her also said plenty.