By Sean Nicholls
It's the excruciating eight seconds that speaks volumes about the relationship between the state's political leaders.
Wedged into one corner of a black leather couch in her modest office 21 storeys above Martin Place, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is enthusiastically outlining her achievements in the 11 months she has held the job.
Her usual polished self, Berejiklian's answers are delivered with meticulous detail and pinpoint accuracy. She exudes an aura of tight self-control.
Appropriately, given that the HSC results are out today, it's a bit like interviewing the school captain who has achieved top marks. Until, that is, the one question she is apparently unprepared for.
"I'm always happy to listen": NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit: James Brickwood
"What do you think about Luke Foley?"
This plunges her into a deep and prolonged silence. "Good question," she mutters before delivering a distinctly ungenerous appraisal.
"I think he's very political," she eventually allows of the Opposition Leader, the man who wants her job. "And he's good at politics. That's as much as I'll say."
Pressed as to whether the pair get on well, the Premier issues a blunt "no".
"I've been around long enough to see him in action," she explains, with a weak smile.
In a world of polished politicos who fight opponents hard in the chamber but profess to enjoy a collegiate friendship outside, it's an unusually frank admission.
Would she like that relationship to change? "No. I've got a job to do, he's got his job to do," Berejiklian says quickly.
"I don't need to be his friend."
The tension is only mildly relieved when the Premier's minder pipes up that our time is running out.
Berejiklian is speaking to the Herald to mark the forthcoming anniversary in January of her first year as NSW Premier.
To her right a large, east-facing window affords a bird's eye view of NSW Parliament House on Macquarie Street, at least until a shiny new tower next to her office rises from the concrete slab being laid below.
Immediately outside the window a white crane lowers steel girders to high-vis clad workers.
Cranes often feature in Berejiklian's discourse, as she revels in the claims that Sydney has more of them on the horizon than any other global city. Construction activity and how it is charging the economy is a favourite topic for good reason. NSW is booming. And in large part it is due to the government's $80 billion pipeline of gigantic road and rail projects.
Unemployment is at 4.6 per cent. Two days after this interview Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will update his first budget to reveal cumulative surpluses approaching $10 billion over the next four years.
The government is in clover – perhaps in an even better position than it dared to hope when Berejiklian's predecessor and friend Barry O'Farrell took government from Labor in 2011 after 16 years in opposition.
Yet while times are good, there is trouble brewing.
Three weeks ago Berejiklian stood beside her Sports Minister Stuart Ayres to announce what they presumably expected to be a welcome announcement: $2.5 billion to knock down and rebuild three Sydney sports stadiums.
Of that, $2 billion will go towards rebuilding the Olympic stadium at Sydney Olympic Park and the Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park.
Far from being warmly met, the extravagance of the announcement sparked a backlash.
What should have been an end of year, feel-good story has instead delivered Foley a pre-Christmas gift and a potent election pitch: "Schools and hospitals before stadiums".
Berejiklian's prickly appraisal of her opponent might simply be a case of clashing personalities. Foley and Baird had no such issue.
Then again it could be a sign that the stadiums campaign is already starting to bite, 14 months out from the Premier's March 2019 re-election test
Legacy items
Gladys Berejiklian became Premier after Mike Baird's shock resignation.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The Liberal party room elected Berejiklian leader and Premier on January 23 following the shock retirement of Mike Baird, but her first 11 months have been overwhelmingly marked by her predecessor's legacy items.
Major projects such as the divisive WestConnex motorway and the CBD and South East Light Rail remain on track, but other contentious initiatives, notably the push to forcibly amalgamate councils, have been brutally disposed of.
The backing down on contentious policies – the attempt to introduce a Fire and Emergency Services Levy on all properties is another example – has quickly marked Berejiklian as a politician willing to do an about-face based on what she sniffs in the breeze.
When this is raised Berejiklian is quick off the mark. "It never happens in politics, does it?" she laughs.
She says her predecessors O'Farrell and Baird are "exceptional leaders" whose legacies she is "grateful" to have inherited.
"But I will say that governments don't always get it right," she says.
"I'm always happy to listen, always happy to consider what the community wants.
"But there are also times when you make a decision, you stick by your guns because you know it's in the best interests of the community."
A reputation for backing down "doesn't bother me at all", Berejiklian says. "I think people expect when you have a new Premier that it's that Premier's prerogative to look at everything on the table and say, 'Well I'm the leader now. What do I want to take forward and what don't I?' "
Housing pledge
One headache for the Premier is the issue of housing supply.Credit: Peter Rae
One issue Berejiklian
In a statement with more than a hint of former prime minister Bob Hawke's famous "no child will live in poverty" pledge, Berejiklian declared: "I want to make sure that every average, hard-working person in this state can aspire to own their own home."
In June, she unveiled a first homebuyers' package of stamp duty exemptions and concessions. The initial numbers are positive, with more than 13,000 people accessing the scheme in the five months to November. This compares with just over 3000 in the same period last year.
Yet, as Sydney house prices continue to climb, there is clearly more to do.
Berejiklian notes the government's $1 billion social and affordable housing delivering thousands of dwellings
She is also mulling options around rental affordability and securing longer-term tenure for renters "because we know a lot of people are preferring to rent because they want to live in the city as a lifestyle choice [and] a work style choice".
One aspect of this that is causing Berejiklian a headache is the issue of housing supply and the plan to roll out hundreds of thousands of new apartments across Sydney in the next 20 years.
A focus on "priority precincts" around new and existing transport hubs has prompted a backlash, including from some of her own ministers, who are feeling the heat from their communities about overdevelopment.
"I for one ... don't want communities to lose their local character," she says.
"I want people to feel they are living in good urban environments with greenery and green space. But also we have to look at opportunities where we can increase supply.
"People do want to downsize, upsize, have choice of housing."
However, Berejiklian is unequivocal in ruling out one possible policy lever – the abolition of stamp duty in favour of a broad based land tax.
She says the government has researched whether stamp duty deters people from downsizing and "the evidence doesn't suggest that's the case".
"I would not support any scheme which suggested that people should be taxed for living in their own home," she says. "Whilst that's my principle that won't be happening in NSW."
Bush movement
Nationals leader John Barilaro has pledged to be a more muscular advocate within the Coalition.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Another hallmark of Berejiklian's time as Premier has been her assertion that she wants to govern for the whole of NSW and make sure everyone gets their "fair share". Translation: we are vulnerable in the bush.
After the shock of losing the Orange byelection last year to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, the government has sharpened its focus on regional and rural NSW.
A new Nationals leader, John Barilaro, has pledged to be a more muscular advocate within the Coalition. This appears to have culminated in his extraordinary call for the Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to resign by Christmas.
With only seven seats needed to change hands to see the Coalition plunged into minority government in 2019, Berejiklian knows the strength of the Nationals remains a significant issue.
"We are not immune from what's happening around the world," she says in reference to the Trump effect in the United States which led to disgruntled voters in struggling rust belt states rejecting the mainstream.
"We know for a fact those who live in more rural and regional and remote communities feel more left behind than others.
"And even though our state's doing incredibly well, for every person who cheers every time we announce a new mega project there's someone else who says, 'What about my community? I'm feeling left behind.' "
How does she feel the government is travelling in the bush?
"I've been overwhelmed with the response I get," she says. "People are really happy to see me, people are happy to talk to me. Not everybody agrees with me or likes me.
"Not everybody votes my way, but I feel that I've had a really good hearing."
Construction criticism
The stadiums plan has resulted in a public backlash.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The anger is far from confined to the bush.
Last weekend, Berejiklian and her Transport Minister Andrew Constance saw a media conference to open a section of the light rail on George Street in the Sydney CBD hijacked by angry business owners furious about the impact of the construction works.
WestConnex has seen the mass forced resumption of private homes and businesses and, most recently, what some feel is an overly extravagant spend on sports stadiums has flared up.
Berejiklian concedes she detects anger "from some quarters. There are always people that will never support your government and that's fine. But we still govern for everybody.
"I've often been of the school that, if you do the right thing, build in the right places, have the right polices, the politics takes care of itself."
On stadiums, Berejiklian says the strength of feeling stems from people wanting her to understand that the priorities must be health and education.
"I completely get that," she says, noting her commitment to the public education system she went through. "But it doesn't mean that we should let other things fall by the wayside."
Berejiklian says her government can "walk and chew gum".
"If you really say to people, 'Would you mind having an upgraded stadium or more cultural infrastructure?' they wouldn't, as long as they feel we have our priorities right.
"So as long as they feel we are investing enough in health and education and roads and transport, I feel we do have that right balance. I'm asking people to put into context our spend compared to everything else we do."
Work ethic
Berejiklian and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull watch the first tunnel breakthrough of the NorthConnex project in West Pennant Hills.Credit: AAP
Looking towards 2018, a pre-election year, Berejiklian does not rule out a reshuffle to refresh the government but will not hint at details.
Heading for her first anniversary next month, Berejiklian protests that it's premature to judge her performance as Premier.
"It's way too early to make assessments of my leadership or of my premiership, frankly," Berejiklian asserts.
"I think that you need to wait til someone's done and dusted before you can cast judgment in terms of what they've achieved."
She emphasises that she has taken "gutsy" decisions in the past, such as implementation of the Opal smart card as transport minister or the announcement of the north-west metro.
"I say to people, 'Look at our track record. Look at my personal track record,' " she says.
"And please know that if nothing else, my personal motivation and work ethic will always mean that I do my best."