The Herald recommends that voters support Mr Baird and his Coalition team to build on their progress.

Mike Baird deserves chance to build on progress

March 27, 2015

EDITORIAL  written by SMH

The Herald recommends that voters support Mike Baird and his Coalition team to build on their progress. Photo: Brendan Esposito

Four years ago the Herald hardly needed to endorse the Coalition to end 16 years of Labor rule. The state government had deteriorated into self-serving rorts and economic dysfunction under a series of leaders. The party had been hollowed out, emptied of ideas and was clinging to power for its own sake. We said NSW was due for change and renewal. Voters agreed in spades.

This Saturday the choice is more complex.

The man who defeated Labor in 2011, Barry O'Farrell, is not even standing for re-election. Like many colleagues, the former premier resigned from the frontbench after giving false (or mistaken) evidence at corruption hearings that exposed, as the Herald had warned, more of the grubby same from the Coalition. Voters are entitled to feel cheated by those in the Coalition who gamed political donations laws.

Mr O'Farrell's replacement was Mike Baird, whose record during three years as treasurer was strong.

As Premier, Mr Baird has gone some way to restoring confidence in the state's leadership. He has even proposed some improvements to political donations laws, although they do not go far enough.

Mr Baird still has work to do on other issues as well: transport, coal seam gas and, most all, the planned partial lease of the state's electricity poles and wires.

The Premier is on fairly solid economic ground in proposing privatisation. Regulation and greater efficiency in private hands mean power prices will not rise.

Yes, as Labor leader Luke Foley says, the successful bidder will pressure the regulator to seek price rises to gain greater returns – but that can be resisted and would happen under state ownership anyway.

Yes, the dividends the state-owned assets provide to the budget will fall – but the net effect on revenue steams will not be as large as Labor claims.

And yes, the price may not be as good as it would have been four years ago – but this might be the last chance to attract a reasonable bid for the network.

Importantly, the proceeds of privatisation can help further the infrastructure projects being developed by the Baird government.

Yes, some of those projects will not proceed should Mr Baird fail to secure privatisation legislation through the upper house – but you can have a go (providing you don't do dirty deals to buy support), or you fail to try.

The Premier has put to the people a seemingly unpopular policy. He has argued for it forcefully. And voters now know full well what privatisation involves. Should they elect Mr Baird, he will have a strong mandate to pursue the partial leasing – and rival parties should recognise the will of the majority of people.

Yes, there are doubts over the detail of the landmark WestConnex motorway project and whether the privatisation proceeds should go to public transport alternatives. Mr Baird's plans are also clouded by his failure to answer simple questions about his role in the rewriting of a report that said the leasing proposal would be bad for the budget. And he has been concerningly secretive about his discussions with potential foreign buyers of the poles and wires.

But Labor's arguments against privatisation reveal union vested interest. They have been deceptive, too. The insistence that power prices will rise has eroded Mr Foley's trust with voters. His invocation of fears over Chinese ownership may have some validity – any attempt by a foreign government or state-owned enterprise to take over a strategic monopoly should be viewed with caution – but everyone knows the Labor leader's comments were likely to inflame xenophobia.

What was a largely positive policy-based campaign has descended into a scare campaign by Labor and the unions versus a "trust us, we don't need to answer questions" strategy by the Coalition. A sense of the Coalition's arrogance has been exacerbated by its campaign saying "Just Vote 1 for Baird". The Herald urges every elector voter to consider wisely the policies and record of all candidates, then allocate preferences accordingly. It is your legal right.

What's more, the Coalition has disappointed through its personal attacks on Mr Foley as a "L" plater. The Opposition Leader of barely three months has belied his inexperience and his predecessor's lack of policy development. Labor has proposed sensible and modest policies, with a welcome focus on education and health. But while Labor has begun dismantling its own undemocratic union-faction-mates system, and the presence of party reformer and former senator John Faulkner as Mr Foley's mentor raises hopes for further change, the party has a fair way to go.

Nonetheless, aside from the negativity of the poles and wires debate from both sides, this state seems at last to have two fairly mature and open-minded new leaders.

The harsh reality for Mr Foley, though, is that voters in 2015 are not seeking to punish Mr Baird the way they rejected the Labor government four years ago or how Victorians ousted Denis Napthine last November or the way Queenslanders rejected Campbell Newman in January.

Yes, many voters want to punish the Abbott government, and Mr Foley tried to link Mr Baird to the unpopular Prime Minister – but with such dysfunction in Canberra, this state more than ever needs a steady hand on the financial tiller.

NSW voters deserve a stable government with a track record of financial management. Managing the state's finances is now the most important issue to 19 per cent of people surveyed in the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll. That is a 9 point rise since November, making it the second most important issue overall behind health and hospitals on 24 per cent.

Mr Baird was a more than competent treasurer who managed the privatisation of state ports. He reduced budget deficit and debt with only a reasonably minor impact on delivery of most services. Yes, the Coalition has made mistakes – but the public transport system in NSW is improving. Yes, roads are clogged – but funds from the poles and wires plan should help. Anti-alcohol violence laws are working in reducing assaults in the Sydney city precinct. The economy is outpacing that of other states. And the Liberal Premier remains the best hope of leveraging his popularity and mandate to force concessions from the Abbott government on cuts to health and education.

The Herald recommends that voters support Mr Baird and his Coalition team to build on their progress.