Labor doing a good job in NSW?

[byso]

Rees 'absolutely' in charge

November 18, 2008 - 9:45AM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rees-holds-firm-at-the-top/2008/11/18/1226770398709.html

NSW Premier Nathan Rees has warned anxious Labor backbenchers to "stiffen up" after fending off questions about his leadership in the wake of last week's horror mini-budget.

Asked by journalists after a property seminar in Sydney this morning about leadership speculation, and concerns that scores of Labor seats are in jeopardy at the 2011 election, the Premier said he stood by all of his decisions.

Asked if he expected to hold on to his position up until the election, he replied: "Absolutely ... and beyond."

He said backbenchers upset about adverse community reaction to the mini-budget should "stiffen up".

"We have a difficult situation and we need to explain to the community why these decisions have to be made," he said about the unpopular budget measures - which included raising tolls on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Harbour Tunnel, slashing the popular student bus subsidy scheme, and scrapping the Manly JetCat service.

"The alternative is sending the state broke," he said.

"There is no question some backbenchers have concerns about the mini-budget," he said, but he added that no changes would be made to appease them or the public.

"We simply don't have the option," he said.

Addressing about 180 people from the development industry at a Property Council of Australia function, Mr Rees defended the Government's decision to increase land taxes and commercial parking space levies but promised a review when the economy revived.

"When revenues recover we will be able to revisit [those taxes]," he said.

"We had to find revenue to deliver basic services to the community. That is no comfort to you but it is about belt tightening across the board."

However, he did say he hoped a review of  levies imposed by state and local governments on developers building new homes would be done before Christmas.

The development industry has long complained the levies were too much for the industry and home buyers to afford, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of new houses. Councils worry that if the levies are cut, as is expected, they will not be able to provide local infrastructure such as pools, parks and libraries.

Mr Rees reiterated comments made last month that he would consider allowing councils to raise rates by more than the rate of inflation to increase their revenues.

Wendy Frew is the Herald's Urban Affairs Editor

 

[Duff]

Poor prick, never even given a go.

I hope you're happy Byso.

 

[Garts]

No doubt they are disaster but he just inherited the mess.

 

[Guest]

He inherited a disaster but his mini budget will make things worse not better. 

Rees was responsible for the mini budget and he has shown already that he is as clueless as the rest fo the labor party.  Even labor supporters in his own electorate hate him as a result of the budget.

Australia at the moment is like having Monnas in charge.  We are going in ever decreasing concentric circles.

 

[Dan]

And thus the cycle continues

Labor over to Liberal in NSW at next election and 2 terms later back to Labor.

It's all rather amusing

 

[byso]

Is QLD any better Dan

 

[Fluffy]

it could all be saved if he just scraps the bus pass cuts. The rest of the budget it seems is great.

Byso when is Fatty O'Farrel going to come up with some ideas himself?

 

[byso]

Do you need the opposition to sort out your mess! They'd be stupid to reveal Policy 2 years prior to a campaign.

I'm sure they wont be using the "me too" strategy like Kevin 707

 

[Guest]

Funny how the councils that received the biggest grants were all labor areas or marginal seats inculding Rudd's own electorate.  The northern beaches councils got a couple of hundred thousand each which is bugger all.

 

[Dan]

Is QLD any better Dan

I dont know people up here are too busy living life and having fun to really give a **** TBH mate. For all I know we don't even have a state government

 

[Canteen Worker]

http://blogs.smh.com.au/urbanjungle/2008/11/get_off_your_ba.html?page=fullpage

Get off your backside, Barry

Barry O'Farrell is going to win the next state election, and doesn't he know it. The big fella is looking happy because it seems like victory is guaranteed, involving minimum effort from himself. Which is just the way he likes it. We know from his career history -- from his pathetic and lazy response to last week's mini-budget -- that he's not a man to lift two fingers when one will do.


But is this good enough? Turning around New South Wales will not just involve winning the election. It will require brains and energy and preparation. Before Nick Greiner reformed the state back in 1988, or Jeff Kennett did the same in Victoria in the early 1990s, they put in a lot of hard work. They had things such as policies and plans. Kennett, for example, hit the ground running: he held his first cabinet meeting the day after the election.

The New South Wales Coalition has few policies of any substance. It doesn't seem to appreciate the extent of the disaster it will have to fix. Here are some hints from experts.

Interviewed by the Australian last week, Nick Greiner said, ``The truth is that NSW has been in decline and underperforming for most of the decade. There is no question it goes back to the Carr government. The decline set in after the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the message went up then that NSW was closed for business. There is now a genuine loss of confidence in NSW. Consider that until a few weeks ago the main new infrastructure project was the Sydney northwest metro. Now it's been taken off the table. What does this tell us? You cannot have a proposal that goes from being right to wrong in a fortnight. It means there is no systematic plan for NSW and government departments don't know what they're supposed to be doing."

Aren't we lucky? A government without plans opposed by an opposition without policies.

Greiner went on: "As a state, NSW has much more going for it than Victoria. Yet Victoria has enjoyed a far superior political leadership and bureaucratic performance for a long period. Steve Bracks wasn't as talented a politician as Bob Carr, but he did a far better job as premier. If you talk to business, housing and property companies and the banks, they will tell you that NSW has at least a five-year-old problem. NSW has under-invested in infrastructure for a long time."

Jeff Kennett is just as dismissive. This week he told the same newspaper: ``I consider the fundamentals in NSW right now to be worse than when we took over Victoria in 1992. NSW is not a modern society in terms of its thinking and in terms of its governance. Governments in NSW have totally missed out on the most economically prosperous time since white settlement. NSW is the most populous state and the entry point for most tourists. It should be a state where confidence and prosperity are high. ... I get cross at Bob Carr that he ... misused 10 years of public office and so totally failed to do what I consider to be the right thing."

Kennett says the job of reform will require toughness. "We went through mayhem for the first two years [in Victoria from 1992] - my home was vandalised, ministers were spat on.''

Toughness. Does that sound like Barry O'Farrell?

Kennett said the NSW state Coalition ought to be out there now, seeking widely for talented advisors and ideas. It should be preparing rigorously for the task of government.

Come on Barry. It's time to get off your backside.

What do you think. Does the Coalition deserve to govern?

 

[Canteen Worker]

One response on the blog, amongst a lot critical (rightly so) of the State Government:

Well how about this for Liberal policies. Nothing about their past and present history suggests that things would be otherwise than outlined.

1. Sell-off of Sydney and Newcastle bus routes to the private sector so that Labor will then have to repurchase them and bail them out when they go broke, as they will.

2. A corresponding sell-off of transport corridors for unsuitable pork-barrel transport developments (such as the North-West Metro) Ask Victorians what happens when rail services are handed over to an unaccountable private sector.

3. Work Choices Mark II (NSW Branch) for its next victims - the hundreds of thousands of people on State awards such as public sector employees, private school teachers and retail and hospitality workers among others.

4. Subsidies by stealth for wealthy private schools.

5.Handing over as many functions of public sector entities like hospitals as it can get away with to an unaccountable private sector.

6. More Laura Norder (not better policing and criminal justice) based on moral panic. Say goodbye to safe injecting rooms.

7. A surreptitious anti-gay, anti-woman agenda which among other things will roll back reproductive rights.

And the people of NSW have not won the electricity sell-off issue by any means - Liberal supporters can look forward to the day when the hapless consumer from Dubbo reports a home fuse-box blowing up during an electrical storm and is answered by a foreign call centre on VOIP who then asks for his date of birth and other personal details.

Be careful what you wish for.

PS - didn't know this blogger knew Mata???  the hapless consumer from Dubbo  ;D ;D ;D

 

[Guest]

It just goes to show how stupid rudd really is.  He knows that NSW is ****ed and is dragging the Australian economy down yet he has spent most of his surplus without doing anything direct to assist NSW.

If he gave NSW $10b to spend on infrastructure projects only labor would get back in NSW in a canter. 

 

[Matabele]

woof!

 

[Fluffy]

Problem with Greiner saying anything is that he left NSW in so much debt that Carr could not afford to spend for his first 5 years of office.

Thats when he went wrong

If we combine Kennet and Greiner we could have a state with no police, teachers or nurses in debt to the 100's of billions within 3 years.

 

[Matabele]

The ALP could produce 0.5% unemployment, match that with inflation and make every train run on time and Byso would still think they sucked.

There is no point to this thread.

 

[byso]

Matta, Just pointing out a couple of the many problems with your beloved ALP.

I guess you miss the blow jobs you gave Beazley when you were his tea lady.

 

[Matabele]

I'm a swinging voter unlike you and your conservative pals.

 

[Guest]

The ALP could produce 0.5% unemployment, match that with inflation and make every train run on time and Byso would still think they sucked.

There is no point to this thread.

That would be as likely as Norths or the sharks winning the 2009 premiership.

 

[byso]

I'm a swinging voter unlike you and your conservative pals.

Very unlikely