Nsw Politics

Last night I thanked Manly for an unbelievable result and for the incredible privilege of serving them in the next Parliament.

The opportunity to represent my community weighs on me heavily. But I said we have to remember the trial of any government is not how they go in times of triumph but in times of challenge that lay ahead.

Our challenge starts now and there is a massive task ahead.

Continue reading "How the Liberals must change NSW government" »

A small tap of the space key can make a world of difference.

Case in point - mandate: “the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative”; as opposed to man date: “two men doing something that would be your standard date, eg going to a film, out for a meal.”

Now, Unions NSW has been working constructively with governments of all stripes for 130 years. But with all due respect, if Barry O’Farrell becomes premier after Saturday’s election, I won’t be lining up for a man date.

Continue reading "Earn your mandate Barry, or there’ll be no man date" »

“Some day someone will write the full story of Australian roguery, from the rum racketeers of the First Fleet to the beer racketeers of the Second World War, from land swindlers to mine swindlers…the dramatis personae will be well assorted – red-coated English officers and wide-hatted Australian squatters, Tories and Socialists, knights and nobodies, politicians, policemen, aldermen; racing men and brewers; and every State will provide a scene or two, though, unquestionably, New South Wales will steal the show.”

This is the introduction from Cyril Pearl’s Wild Men of Sydney, the rollicking account of late 19th century NSW politics through the lives of Upper House MPs John Norton, Patrick Crick and William Willis, three men who were drunk on power and often just plain drunk. It’s one of those enduring books which helps tell the story of a city. It was written in 1958 about events from the 1880s and 1890s.

To this day, it captures the language of Sydney, the culture of government and business, the sense of entitlement which colours the conduct of so many MPs in this State. The fact that we have an American woman as Premier has done nothing to change this culture.

Continue reading "NSW: from shonkiness and sloth to visionless inertia" »

Never work with children, animals or the NSW Government. Nicola Roxon should consider adopting this updated truism of showbiz, as it might shield her from embarrassment the next time she’s tempted to hit the hustings with a member of the outfit which recorded a 25 per cent primary vote in a once-safe State Labor seat last month.

The federal Health Minister went to western Sydney this week, along with NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt, and paid a visit to Westmead Hospital where she announced that the Gillard Government would spend $11.3 million to provide 44 new acute, sub-acute and intensive care beds.

A noble initiative but one which was overshadowed by a well-mannered woman who politely inquired as to whether her bed-ridden elderly father could perhaps be given a room with a toilet during his convalescence at Westmead.

Continue reading "The updated rules of showbiz and political campaigning" »

Updated 7.25am: Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reports it was known inside cabinet for years that Campbell had been visiting gay clubs and saunas. There’s analysis here and you can watch a video report including the Channel 7 footage here.

NSW transport minister David Campbell has just resigned after being sprung using his taxpayer-funded car to visit a gay sex club (funny how it’s always the car that does them in).

Seven News showed footage of the married father, who has actively campaigned as a family man, leaving the club where you pay $22 to spend time with like-minded blokes.

On Tuesday night just gone he’d ditched his driver, and driven himself to the establishment known as Kens at Kensington. The Kens website says: “Ken’s is the spacious, clean and safe place to meet sexy guys. Ken’s has everything you want in a venue — ideal for a short lunch-break, a long hard evening or day, or meeting up with (or finding!) someone special!”

Continue reading "Just another day in the swill that is NSW politics" »

The Punch is today forwarding a copy of Malcolm Turnbull’s CV to the NSW Liberal Party urging his immediate elevation to the leadership.

If anyone can smash his way through the paralysis which grips NSW politics it is Turnbull.

In the absence of a mercy rule, NSW voters currently face a battle between the legally blonde and the legally bland.

Continue reading "A plea to Malcolm Turnbull - your State needs you" »

Kevin Rudd’s much-criticised failure to look NSW Premier Kristina Keneally in the eye ahead of health reform talks last week was a supremely weird moment. Keneally is in the equally bizarre position of leading a party voters say they are going to crush in the polls but also decisively support her as preferred premier ahead of Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell.

Rudd’s gaze-averting and fist-banging had all the hallmarks of a snub but taken with the Premier’s attempts to brand herself as Kristina Keneally and nothing to do with Labor, you have to wonder whether the incident may in fact have suited her strategy of putting distance between herself and the party.

With polls on the two-party preferred measure indicating voters are waiting with baseball bats for the NSW Labor Party in next year’s state election it’s perhaps understandable that they would want the focus to be on personalities rather than the party machines.

Continue reading "It’s her party and she’ll ignore it if she wants to" »

No-one has yet give a credible explanation to why disgraced NSW ex-health minister John Della Bosca was locked out of his office after his affair with a much younger woman was exposed.

His door was locked, an armed guard was positioned outside and all his staff were sacked.

It was an overtly over-the-top response from premier Nathan Rees for something many sympathetic journalists said merely reflected what many in the community get up to behind closed doors.

Continue reading "Why John Della Bosca was locked out: the sad truth" »

Hey shock jocks and Twitter bitches - Belinda Neal deserves just one day off from copping abuse, maybe even a free pass for the rest of the week.

The Federal MP everyone loves to hate has just found out with the rest of us her husband, former NSW health minister John Della Bosca, spent a large chunk of the first half of this year sleeping with a 26-year-old women he picked up at the NSW Art Gallery.

In his press conference half an hour ago Della Bosca apologised to every man and his dog for his “poor personal decisions”, last in the list of those he’d let down were his “family.” No specific mention of his wife.

Any other betrayed wife in Australia would be getting our sympathy right now - but not podgy old Neal, she of Iguanagate, Rudd-imposed anger management classes and robust behaviour on the soccer pitch.

Continue reading "Leave Belinda Neal alone, just for a day" »