Newspoll: Berejiklian puts a big target on her own back with stadiums policy

Gladys Berejiklian has spent a lot of time in her 13 months as NSW Premier acting like her mentor, former premier Barry O’Farrell — trying to be a small target.

That was until last November when she announced $2.5 billion for her stadiums policy to knock down and rebuild two large stadiums at once.

Suddenly she was a big target.

It has been a ropy two months for the NSW government by any measure.

There was a train strike in January, then the controversy over “Ferry McFerryface” — the silly naming of a ferry by Transport Minister Andrew Constance — controversy over mismanagement of a cash-for-cans scheme and the inability of the government to shake off the mammoth stadiums spend.

But outside of that, the overriding problem for the government is the same that Berejiklian’s predecessor Mike Baird had towards the end of his time in parliament.

There is a (perhaps unfair) perception in NSW that this government is not a government for the people. That it is government about big business and vested interests and development. That the state has been run by bankers, who are more interested in building apartments and their next jobs than helping ordinary people (both Baird and Berejiklian were bankers).

Despite the Coalition government having done a wonderful job of managing the economy — far better than Labor or any other state could ever manage — there is a perception in the community, as the cost of living bites, that no one is reaping the rewards of that. The fact Sydney is a major construction zone seven years into this government with no ribbon-cutting occurring yet does not help.

Berejiklian therefore, after this Newspoll, is on notice to improve her performance and that of her cabinet — a cabinet she must feel she is carrying on occasion.

But Opposition Leader Luke Foley does not have cause to celebrate just yet. A primary vote of 34 will go nowhere near securing him a majority.

Which is where the likelihood of minority government comes in — and the concerning possibility of a Labor-Greens alliance in government.