NSW state election: Berejiklian ready to take off gloves, think big

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday. Picture: David Swift

Liberal strategists woke yesterday to disappointing news, yet they have every reason to breathe easier — ReachTEL had the Coalition down a point, slipping to 49-51 in the two-party-preferred vote.

While this is the last thing you want on the day of your campaign launch, to the experienced pros this was very much a silver lining.

First, everyone agrees on one thing. The battle for NSW will largely be fought in the bush and this poll had the Nationals vote surging from 4 to 7 per cent. This confirms internal Nationals polling suggesting they are tracking weekly growth of 1-2 per cent, particularly in the must-hold seats of Lismore and Tweed.

Second, the poll followed what is widely acknowledged as ­Michael Daley’s best week — taking it up to Alan Jones and the big end of town, and the only dividend Labor got was a single-point ­advantage. One point.

It also preceded a strategic shift by Gladys Berejiklian to dump the small-target approach, taking the fight to Daley with a strong performance in her Parramatta Stadium press conference. It was a decisive Premier, and we saw more of that in yesterday’s launch.

A deeper analysis of the poll presents one more noteworthy analogy. Sure, fewer people support the rebuild of the Allianz Stadium than don’t but with all the issues at hand, do we really think Australians will decide how to vote based on a stadium build that represents 2 per cent of the government’s infrastructure program. Really?

Mike Baird faced a similar situation in 2015 when he took the unpopular long-term lease of the poles and wires to the people. A third of the electorate supported his plan to reinvest into critical infrastructure, while about half of those polled did not.

This shows that good policy is often unpopular, but if it is part of a plan that works, it will be measured accordingly by an intelligent electorate. With NSW having the nation’s lowest unemployment, a budget surplus, no debt and an infrastructure program the envy of the world, there is only one thing left to do. Sell it to the public.

Heading into yesterday’s launch, Berejiklian had taken up that challenge with gusto. Will she risk our state to Labor — not on my watch, she declares. Why can’t we have schools, hospitals, transport and stadiums? She has shrugged off the stadiums albatross and gone big. The gloves are off. She warned the crowd of Daley’s lies: how he was part of a government that oversaw nine transport masterplans but delivered only half a rail line.

Having set the scene of a future under Labor, she turned to her ­vision and played her hand: a suite of aces that included a $1.3 billion redevelopment of Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital. In her NSW, as she put it, you can have it all!

With contributions
from Tom Loomes

Former NSW Liberal minister Michael Photios is chairman of PremierState