nsw politics
4 Mar 2010
How NSW Went Septic
Highly contagious and debilitating to its victims, the NSW ALP has spread like golden staph across the body of the ailing state, writes Bob Dumpling
Who isn’t excited about the NSW election in just over 12 months time? It’s hard to believe there isn’t a countdown clock somewhere in the Sydney CBD, or a raging debate on where to hold the "Party Like It’s 1988" event on election night. But if you thought that the ALP would be miserable when they are wiped out on election day, you’d be wrong. As many Guinness Book of Records attempters will tell you, "You can’t stay on a rollercoaster forever."
The NSW ALP has outdone itself, digging deeper into a hole which will take multiple elections to climb out of. For many in the state and elsewhere, the thought of a NSW Labor wipeout has engendered a wonderful, satisfying feeling until now. But what if, as in the previous election, they actually remained in office?
Perhaps I shouldn’t be concerned, as the most recent Newspoll has the NSW Liberal/National Party two-party preferred at 57/43 and the most accurate gauge of the likely result on 26 March 2011 is of course Centrebet, with the NSW Coalition at $1.15 to win and the ALP back at $4.90.
But as any long-term politician will tell you, never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate and, in the interests of the state, I’m here to remind you of why NSW needs to leave Labor stranded like a CityRail customer.
Simply put, NSW Labor is a lot like golden staph. A particularly aggressive bacteria, golden staph is infamous for being largely drug-resistant and despite the long list of controversies, ministerial sackings and changes of leadership, the ALP in NSW rolls on.
As you may know, 20 per cent of the population carries the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria long-term — much like rusted-on Labor voters and union members. Golden staph is particularly virulent in closed areas such as hospitals. In many ways, this is similar to the concentration of Labor hacks in locations such as the NSW ALP head office in Sussex Street, Governor Macquarie Tower and the offices of Hawker Britton.
These three addresses essentially run the state, with the Parliament little more than a staging area for the circus that is the NSW Government. The influence of fellow tenants at Sussex Street, Unions NSW, is obvious, but less so is the strategic role of Hawker Britton in driving the spin which has led NSW from Bob Carr’s victory in 1995 to where we are now. This influence has infected every major development, non-decision and failure which has seen NSW and Sydney in particular, lurch along to a state of immobility.
It is, in fact, so hard to get your head around just how badly Labor has performed that it’s worth a very quick recap. Their record in transport, for example defies belief. Take the gross mistake which was the Cross City Tunnel. This highly anticipated public-private partnership misjudged traffic uptake, necessity and contractual arrangements. Opening in August 2005, it was insolvent by the end of 2006. Another political pus-ball is the Parramatta to Chatswood Rail Link which was launched with great fanfare but was soon revised to become the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link. As if avoiding Parramatta — Sydney’s geographic centre with its own large CBD — wasn’t bad enough, RailCorp managed to build tunnels that were too steep and had excessive noise. The incomplete rail project went from an initial cost of $1.4 billion to $2.3 billion.
Another example of a festering boil which won’t be addressed is the long proposed development of Green Square. Despite countless plans and announcements for the area to become an integrated business, housing, eco-sustainable, uber-hub of urban renewal, the area remains a miserable wasteland. No project in the state has done more for the "artist’s impression" industry than Green Square.
Finally the most recent unannouncement is the cancellation of the CBD Metro, a project which will cost taxpayers more than $330 million to not build.
It’s important to keep in mind that infection control is very difficult when you have carriers in constant transit between different locations. A good example of how the pathogen spreads is that presented by Walt Secord’s movements. Macquarie Street’s favourite Canuck who spent a considerable amount of time in Bob Carr’s office, then worked for Hawker Britton, had a short-lived stint with Kevin’07, then back to Macquarie Street with the esteemed Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, now finds himself with the job of a lifetime: chief of staff to the Tracy Flick of NSW politics, Premier Kristina Keneally.
Another equally terrifying example is the mercurial Sam Dastyari. A former President of Young Labor, Dastyari also worked for Hawker Britton before moving into ALP head office in Sussex Street. Soon enough though, with the office of Nathan Rees becoming reminiscent of Black Hawk Down, Dastyari was dropped in uninvited to "help" the premier (at considerable cost to taxpayers). But things don’t end there. In a post-Rees knuckle-fight at Sussex Street, general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite has walked into a possible Senate seat, with the hapless would-be powerbroker Luke Foley remaining assistant secretary and our man Sam becoming general secretary of NSW Labor at 27 years of age.
Of course the newish Premier is herself a centre of this kind of contamination. Since her preselection Keneally has had to endure serious questions regarding her dealings with a range of politicians, developers and public servants. Not immune to temper tantrums, the Premier’s ability to obfuscate is best outlined in an article by Andrew Clennell last year while she was planning minister. If nothing else, the next 12 months will be a time of photo ops, stage managed promises and a timely reminder of why country music is unpleasant.
The long-term effects of NSW Labor on public transport, government transparency, economic and sustainable development have been the equivalent of toxic shock. Compared to every other state in Australia, NSW is going backwards, led from the rear by a lacklustre cabinet with too few members of any real ability or talent for anything apart from factional warring and self-advancement. It’s now so bad that Kevin Rudd is worried NSW could turn electorally septic for Labor at the federal level too.
The factional backroom you’ve-got-no-idea-but-we’ve-worked-on-heaps-of campaigns-together-so-here’s-a-job mentality is epitomised by NSW Labor. Managing Government business is always difficult, but the absurd vaudeville of Macquarie Street can’t end soon enough. Labor just aren’t up to the task. Of course the prospect of a Liberal/National Party government in NSW isn’t much to get excited about, but comparatively, it’s a benign tumour.
The best way to prevent golden staph is to wash your hands. Let’s hope NSW voters do just that as soon as they are given the opportunity.
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We don’t elect the people that run the state of NSW. It’s as simple as that.
MaryanneG
What can you expect from a bunch of overpaid overrated proles- boot them out and give the people who know how to run a business a chance to sort out the mess once again.
Bob “Dumpling”. I love that. Reminds me of my mother’s incomparable Irish stew with said dumplings.
Golden staph (hilarious) versus Benign Tumour (oh Barry!). What a choice. Worse than burnout versus loudmouth at federal level.
Will Barry promise to not reverse any national park declarations? That will be a serious test.
You know Bob I was thinking I really should request my ASIO file out of their wanna be spook training room, exercises draw, but now I realise I need to get my Hawker Britton file a hell of alot more! Ha ha.
Did you hear that “Alexandria Business Woman” tub thump on ABC radio complaining about bike paths (courtesy indy Mayor Clover ‘Move Over’ Moore) taking up car spaces in ‘an industrial suburb’? (It’s mixed residential actually). Only said annoyed/annoying A.B.W. was one “Nicole Campbell”. Who? Oh yeah, ALP candidate for Bennelong 2004.
Lone ALP Cr Meredith Burgmann was sending in her in like a wolf to bite the shins of Clover’s bikies, under cover of neutral sheep’s clothing at least on abc till I tipped them off. But was Ms N.C. employed by “a shipping company” through her contacts like Port Botany CEO Vic Smith - ex ALP Mayor of South Sydney? Come on Nicole, Vic, do tell.
Golden staph … hilarious.
People actually admitting they would prefer the Libs in power…. what is the world coming to.
Asti
That’s a short list the fiascos!
The integrated smartcard ticket for all public transport in Sydney which we were promised for the 2000 Olympics, and promised again in 2005 for delivery in 2007 - a fiasco largely because we couldn’t come up with a simple integrated zone system like Melbourne. The complex mish mash presented to the unfortunate ERG couldn’t be melded into one ticket system. How hard can it be to divide Sydney into 3 zones and have a ticket to cover those zones for all transport? Now we have all the legal bills arising out of that….
The desalination plant which has cost us a fortune, and for which we will all continue to pay for the rest of our lives in higher utility bills. And to make it seem more environmentally friendly, it’s gobbling up most of the sustainably sourced electricity available in Sydney. All alternatives ignored.
Today’s SMH - 2 new coal fired power plants to spew far more fumes and carbon into the air. Forget climate change!
NSW Ferries, which are and continue to be a management disaster.
Public servants told to lie and obfuscate to inquiries to achieve the outcome desired by politicians and big donors.
Government ministries where it’s perfectly ok to give the top jobs to your mates/husbands/wives/siblings irrespective of their capacity. Take the Director-General of Education for NSW, husband of a Labor minister, who would not be allowed to teach in a classroom because of his criminal background, and wit no professional educational background. On top of which he is seriously messing up the TAFE teachers in NSW, who are lumped with a new award which has them now working for lower hourly pay than they were earning 2 years ago! Many, the very ones we can’t afford to loose, are getting out…
Another example - a quote from News.com.au about the Wollongong Council Labor fiasco - “The political dimension of the scandal widened when it emerged that two conmen, posing as corruption investigators, allegedly extorted a $30,000 payment from Labor powerbroker and council staff member Joe Scimone in exchange for offering to destroy evidence against him. Mr Scimone left the council in February last year after sexual harassment claims and went on to receive a $200,000 a year position with NSW Maritime, a department controlled by his friend Joe Tripodi, the Ports Minister.”
Mona Vale Hospital, among others - possums scarpering around the operating theatres, and buckets to catch the drips in the corridors and wards. Waiting lists figures being manipulated to conceal the bad news so the pollies won’t have to ‘fess up. Some country hospitals having to beg and borrow to have basic supplies such as bandages.
Lots more examples - but the worst is the sheer corruption. It’s endemic in so much of what the Labor Government is and does. It totally stains the ALP in NSW, and the good, decent Labor people on the ground over so many decades.
Let’s not forget that Kristina Keneally was one of the biggest fundraisers for the ALP while she was the Minister of Planning. A reminder from last year - “Minister’s unlawful act scuppers 7200 homes - THE state’s biggest housing project has collapsed after the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, admitted she acted unlawfully in approving the 7200-home Hunter Valley proposal.
On the eve of a court challenge by residents opposing the Huntlee New Town project near Branxton, Ms Keneally and the developer of the $1.8 billion complex have conceded the minister’s approval of the concept plan and a rezoning application breached planning laws. The court found that ”there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the minister” when granting approval Huntlee was conceived and backed by one of the biggest donors to the NSW Labor Party, Duncan Hardie’s Hardie Holdings, a part owner of the project.
And there you have it - the source of Tripodi’s power, of Obeid’s power, of Keneally’s power - the ability to deliver the donations to all those Labor Minsters and backbenchers who want to be re-elected and need funds to achieve that. Then they owe allegiance.
So however bereft of policy and charisma Barry O’Farrell may be, it will take some years before any Liberal government will become as corrupt as this lot. And for policy, integrity and some degree of oversight and constructive intervention in the Legislative Council, I’ll go for the Greens. With a bit of luck they will end up with the balance of power there - and maybe even with Balmain and Marickville in the lower House.
Bring on the election!
Liked the article Bob ; you are a bit soft on them though. :)
I’ve just been reading Shane Maloney’s second Murray Whelan Trilogy.
The hero (Labor upper house Victoria mid 90s by now) is being dragged out to sea by currents and is getting paranoid about what is lurking in the inky depths.
“A shark, or something worse. Some nameless horror from the primordial depths. A creature of suckered tentacles or poisonus spines. Anyone familiar with the leading personalities in the NSW branch of the Labor Party would know exactly how I felt.”
1990s that is in case you thought I was talking about someone of advanced age.
Plenty of sins listed, but the author displays no knowledge of how government actually works (hint: politicians are a veneer). 95% of what happens is determined by, in order of importance; firstly, how much the feds dole out to the state goverrment; and secondly, the calibre, motivations, and careerism of the public servants involved in service delivery and planning. Everything else is a distant concern.
It’s hysterical hyperpole to say Sydney is in some dire, decrepid state. The present state governement don’t deserve to be relected because on the whole, it’s parliamentary members work only to be reelected and show very little interest in what’s going on unless they see some votes in it. That is, it’s a self-sustaining machine devoid of drive to improve the lot of the voter, so they should be punished by losing their jobs and access to patronage.
The fun will be when the Libs get in. Will they have learnt the lessen of federal Labor and tread cautiously, supressing their long held zeal to change as much as possible as fast as possible according to their pro-private sector rhetoric? If they go holus bolus at the public service it will be an entertaining time indeed. Except if you are a public servant.
Food for thought evanspw , :)
Sounds like you’re in almost as much of a mess as Victoria. But you have one advantage: at least your government scrapped its “smart card”. Myki is working on trains (when it works) but they can’t get it to work properly on the trams or buses. It also overcharges some people, then dumps $167,000 (not a typo) is other people’s accounts. There was a good article about it in The Age last week at http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/outsmarted-victoria-pays-the-price-201…, which include the explanation:
“The lack of probity in having a likely future tenderer write guidelines for how the tender process should work - as detailed in a leaked Auditor-General’s report in 2008 (that was later dismissed by the Auditor-General as an early draft, despite all dates, names and verifiable facts thus far proving correct) - was remarkable. It later emerged that the then chief executive of the Transport Ticketing Authority, Vivian Miners (who could not be contacted for this story despite many attempts by The Age), was found to have shares in a company that was part of the consortium that won the myki contract.
The US company Keane leads the consortium building myki, and operates as Keane Australia Micropayments Consortium. ”Keane had no corporate experience in developing, implementing and operating a ticketing system … Keane has barely demonstrated adequate capability,” the leaked audit report said”.
It’s also cost $1.35 billion so far. And if you think your planning’s in a mess, you haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening in Victoria. There was the GAIC land tax they tried to impose on property purchases in some areas and that would have demolished the value of some people’s assets (it got blocked, thank goodness, by the Libs, Nats, Greens & DLP - http://taxedout.com.au/), and now the latest scandal, which you can listen to at http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-generic-blog/justin-madden-should-he-be-…
I believe NSW’s in as bad a condition as it’s made out to be. But I don’t believe it’s worse than Vic. You also have a train to the airport, which the Brumby Govt is refusing to build, in spite of a new report saying that if they don’t, traffic on the road to the airport will “grind to a halt” within 20 years. To make it even more maddening, they reportedly have a $1 billion surplus (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/boom-tax-hikes-give-1b-bonus/story-e6fr…). Yet the poor things can’t afford to build any new train lines, even though the last one was opened in the 1930s and Melbourne’s about four times the size it was then.
Though they do have $363 million to renovate the tennis centre, $40 million to blow on the grand prix, and $20 to put fairy lights on the Westgate Bridge, and $3.5 billion for a desal plant and $1 billion for government advertising over the past 10 years…
Bob, this is good but you should have waited, by the time the election comes around in 386 days things will be different. As you wrote, “But as any long-term politician will tell you, never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate.”
I am desperately afraid people will continue to vote for these people at the expense of others willing to actually serve the people. The only alternative is to vote for a party that hasn’t been a part of this mess…The Greens. If people don’t decide to give them a go and they continue to vote for the same parties, then we will continue to get what we have today.
Be the change you want to see
www.adambutler.com.au
Tasmanians are thoroughly fed up with the running sore of Labor, but will Liberal be any better? It seems unlikely. Our best chance, or perhaps our only chance, is to have a power-sharing government that includes the Greens, the only party likely to put the people before the political navel-gazing that takes over the brains of our politicians once elected.
Perthperson
Thanks, Bob, for your salient article. Having just finished the best book about a “failed state”, full of excoriating wit and irrefutable facts (Ship of Fools: How stupidity and corruption sank the Celtic tiger, Fintan O’Toole) whilst I was traveling around NSW, by train, I was constantly drawn to the parallels between the two, Ireland and NSW. I throughly recommend it as a primer to understanding what has gone on in NSW.
As a state that has built its rail services on time and on budget, has a working multi rider transport ticket that functions, and is coping with the need for constant infrastructure and housing for the burgeoning demand bought on by the mineral boom I wonder why it is Victoria and NSW are in the mess they are in. Are cultural factors of cronyism and patronage at play here as they are in Ireland? After all, you have Cardinal Pell and the strangest lot of Anglicans. Is there a link?
The developers seem to be running the state, and making a mess of it, but the voters are so turned off politics they seem inert. Where is the protest, the whistle blowers, the investigative journalism?
WA is paying for the failed states with our royalties and, insult to injury, our GST share. We lost nearly 40% of it this round! Why should this state be pumping further cash into the veins of a corrupt, inept and moribund state? It wont only be NSW voters who will bite the hand that feeds it. There wont be many votes flowing out of WA towards this Federal government unless we see drastic change. We have plenty of projects here that need funding urgently and it infuriates us to see vital funds going down the toilet, to this state in particular.
What is needed is a Royal Commission into the governance, or lack of, in the state of NSW. Is Tony Fitzgerald still available?
If he is, send him down here first. And do it long before the November 27 election, so the people who fit into the “never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate” category can find out the grisly details before they hit the Labor button again.
As for losing your revenue, if any of it’s gone to the underserving, big-spending, under-essential-services-providing Brumby Govt, you have my deepest sympathies. It’s been wasted. They give us things most people don’t want (desal plant, north-south pipeline, grand prix, lights on the Westgate Bridge), and refuse the necessities (eg. more public transport & government housing).
And then thousands of people converge on Copenhagen, trying to cut the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and ensure the survival of the human race, and at the same time, the BG REFUSES people’s pleas for more public transport. You’d think any government with a shred of responsibility or vision would be foisting a bigger, better and more efficient public transport system onto people even if they weren’t asking for one, and trying to wean them away from their cars. Instead, it’s the people who are crying out for better public transport, and their government that’s refusing them. That’s indefensible.
There’s simply no point in Mr Rudd taking money away from states and handing it over to NSW & Vic if they’re going to blow it on the wrong things whilst refusing to provide the right ones. He should hold onto it, and use it to provide these services himself. I’m glad he’s trying to take over the hospitals. He should be taking over public transport, too, from those states whose governments are professionally incapable of running it without stuffing it up in a myriad of different ways.
Perthperson
Pubic administration is far from perfect in WA but at least both sides of politics get a go, fairly regularly and that prevents entrenched cliques and pockets of patronage.
Also our parliament has the vital infusion of the Greens WA Party to stir things up a bit and allow time for discussion of important issues.
We now have one lower house member in State parliament and three in the upper house. We also have two Senators. Knowing most of them well, I can assure anyone who may doubt it that they got there through hard work by hundreds of volunteers and fund raising from the ordinary person in the street. No big end of town punters dip into their pockets for the Greens.
Having once been a “rusted on” Labour party member from a long line of party workers, even one State secretary, I know how difficult it can be to divorce one’s tribe. But good governance should not be about tribal loyalties but taking decisions on their merit. Seems bloody obvious but how often does it happen?
It is a damm chore to continue to be an activist and no one thanks you, least of all those who have the rewards of power to sprinkle around amongst the acolytes. But what is the alternative? Don’t get mad, get out there and get active.
I have already - I joined the Greens a few months ago. They’re the salvation of Victorian politics, and it’s only because they hold the balance of power in the Upper House (3 of them can join with Labor or the Coalition and pass or block legislation) that the GAIC land tax got blocked. The Labor flunkies in the Lower House all voted for it, even though it’s incurred the wrath of the four (Labor) electorates that were affected, and they’ll now probably lose their seats.
As for the rusted Labor voters who won’t de-rust, it’s their funeral. If they want another four years of toxic government (when they do bother to govern), that’s their democratic right. It’s just a shame that the rest of us will have to endure it too.
I cant wait until the rotte ALP is gone.Belinda Neal is the first card in the deck to fall the issue is that we hope NSW voters wake up and vote Greens and dont vote in the Liberals in a landslide.There is no reason why we cant have a Greens government in all seriousness.
I assume that’s for the same reason as in Vic and Tas: they could not POSSIBLY govern worse than the other parties have, and they’d almost certainly do much better.
There are a couple of inner-city seats that the Greens stand a good chance of winning (Melbourne, Brunswick, Richmond, Northcote) but as for the rest, the two party mentality means I’m not optimistic. But as long as the Greens held the balance of power, Labor or the Coalition would be held accountable, and unable to pass any legislation that didn’t have the approval of the Common Sense Party. That would be a vast improvement on the Labor-run-riot Brumby Govt, with 55 of 88 seats in the Lower House making them think they’re invincible.