City gridlock and anger in the bush don’t bode well for Gladys Berejiklian
The Coalition is relying on a charm offensive starring its likeable leader, but voters aren’t fools. After eight years in government, there is no spinning the truth, Linda Silmalis writes.
The Coalition is relying on a charm offensive starring its likeable leader, but voters aren’t fools.
After eight years in government, there is no spinning the truth. Yes, the Coalition deserves credit for its $89 billion infrastructure spend — but when voters head to the polls on March 23, they will have arrived via congested roads, crowded trains and in record personal debt.
The light rail nightmare continues with no opening date locked in.
The Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link and the F6 extension are stalled in their consultation phase. There is uncertainty over the location of a new cruise ship terminal and a second cemetery site.
The station sites for the Sydney Metro West are still unknown.
With two months to go, not one red ribbon has yet been cut for a major Sydney project.
Sydney woes aside, should an election be held tomorrow it will be won or lost in the bush, with the number of regional seats under threat far out-numbering those in the city.
With many electorates still in drought, water management has become a key election issue. Nationals candidate Andrew Schier will be hoping not to follow the fate of the thousands of fish in his electorate of Barwon, where the management of Menindee Lakes is in the spotlight.
Angry farmers across the state are demanding the government act on animal activist website Aussie Farms, which is posting maps of so-called “factory farms”.
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Uncertainty over marine parks remains, while there is a sense in the bush that the crane count in Sydney far outnumbers that in the bush.
The inequality line is one that Labor, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and One Nation are set to exploit. Labor has already started the ball rolling, targeting rundown regional sporting fields as part of its anti-stadiums message.
There are good stories to tell: the economy, the jobless rate. But what’s lacking is a vote-shifter, like Mike Baird’s poles and wires and Sydney’s second airport. Worse, another major piece of infrastructure is no longer going to cut it.
As one senior Liberal said last week: “People have become used to billion-dollar announcements. It’s not going to work for us anymore and also people are tired of living with ongoing renovations.”
As for overcrowding, for all Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s tough talk on curbing immigration to ease Sydney’s population woes, all we have is a panel.
The stench hasn’t set in. But voters are angry and frustrated. After the devastating result in Wagga Wagga, a Liberal-held seat for more than 60 years, the premier should be feeling far from secure.
Now is the time to be bold on cost of living, congestion and the energy crisis. And maybe cut a ribbon.
Forced into a corner, Labor finally finds a little spine on Israel
After a year of muddle that has seen pro-Hezbollah marches in our streets, a shocking rise in anti-Semitism, and society all but torn apart, Labor has begun to find its voice on the Middle East.
Blair: Hamas and their mates are sooking for themselves
There would have been no deaths in Gaza for protesters to protest were it not for the declaration of war that was Hamas’s October 7 blood and rape orgy, writes Tim Blair.