NSW voters reward strong growth and infrastructure

In re-electing Gladys Berejiklian and the Coalition, the people of NSW put their own and their families’ interests first, voting for aspiration, economic growth, job security, infrastructure development, good service delivery and financial prudence. Saturday’s well-deserved result for the government reflected the fact that in the second half of last year NSW provided about half of Australia’s economic growth, despite having less than a third of the nation’s population. Such success should never be taken for granted. A decade ago, after several terms of indifferent and sometimes corrupt Labor rule, NSW was a failing state, producing the lowest ratio of the nation’s GDP in its history. Business groups were calling for federal intervention to save the state from itself for the sake of the nation.

Ms Berejiklian, who is confident she will be able to govern in her own right — which would be the best outcome for the state — is eager to get back to work today. She is rightly proud that “someone with a long surname, and a woman” can be premier of NSW. The daughter of Armenian immigrants, she could barely speak English on her first day at school in Sydney. But in a confirmation of the opportunities our nation offers newcomers prepared to work hard, Ms Berejiklian has become the first woman to lead her party to an election win in our largest state, where the Coalition had not won a third term in a half-century. Ms Berejiklian made her way in banking and politics on merit, not quotas. Her success should dampen the notion that the Liberals have a “woman problem”.

Even after Michael Daley’s disastrous final week of campaigning, Labor’s 32 per cent primary vote was “brutal”, as one ALP figure described it in private. The Opposition Leader’s inability to recall key policy costings and the emergence of his nasty, ignorant claims about Asians with PhDs taking “our kids’ jobs” sealed his fate. His stumbles also cost him a 12 per cent swing in his seat of Maroubra in southeastern Sydney. Mr Daley also overplayed his opposition to rebuilding Allianz Stadium. But he had a lot of ground to make up after former leader Luke Foley’s resignation in November and his future is now up to his party.

Voters differentiate between state and federal issues, but it is understandable that Scott Morrison, a Sydneysider, is taking heart from the outcome. It will give his party fresh momentum. Contrary to some doomsday assessments, voters are still prepared to embrace the Liberal brand when the policies are right and the party unified. The NSW Liberals’ success, led by Ms Berejiklian from the party’s moderate wing, with strong backing from socially conservative deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, should remind federal Liberals about the importance of focusing on their strength — economic management. That’s why voters in Penrith in outer western Sydney stuck with the Liberals, a point that will not escape Labor hardheads.

While encouraged by the result, the Prime Minister and his deputy, Nationals leader Michael McCormack, should be deeply worried by the collapse of the Nationals vote in former strongholds. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, which began as a pro-gun protest movement decades ago, held Orange, which it won in a by-election in 2016, captured the seat of Murray and has done well in the vast northwestern seat of Barwon. The SFFP, which plans to contest the federal election, capitalised on deep frustration in regional areas about water management at a time of severe drought. Such a backlash, repeated at federal level, where most responsibility for water policy rests, would spell disaster for the Coalition.

With the federal election two months away, this result should point Mr Morrison and Mr McCormack to where they need to focus attention in the regions. Improving the Murray-Darling plan — which yesterday NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro labelled a “failure” — is vital, from Queensland to South Australia. So is a fresh commitment to building dams, an issue on which too little has been heard.

In 2016, the Nationals’ strong showing in the regions saved Malcolm Turnbull’s bacon. If vital seats are to be held, the Nationals must concentrate on policy, not leadership. That said, high-profile figures such as Barnaby Joyce — who is advocating in favour of the Bradfield scheme after the vast wastage of recent Queensland floodwaters — have an important contribution to make. In regional Queensland, concerns about energy policy are as strong as concerns about water policy in regional NSW. Earlier this month, six regional-based LNP MPs urged Mr McCormack to champion the Coalition’s “big-stick” energy supplier divestment laws and underwrite a new power generation facility. The MPs cited “unsustainable Queensland electricity costs”, which are having an adverse impact on small businesses and jobs. Regional seats in that state could be under threat from One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party, with the preferences of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party also playing a role. The six LNP members’ priorities are starkly different to those of Liberal candidates in urban seats in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For that reason, Mr Morrison, Mr McCormack and federal cabinet face a delicate balancing act in setting their budget and election priorities.

NSW election counting continues. But the result should provide the state with stability to face any economic headwinds in the next four years. Throughout the campaign, Ms Berejiklian’s authenticity and commitment to the people of NSW were clear. As long-term transport infrastructure projects open and others begin, she and her team are well placed to pursue the Coalition’s successful strategies of encouraging investment and growth and tight management of taxpayers’ money.