The Choice is Easy

[ppyenews]

Welcome to ‘Talkback Topic’ – I’m Phillip Pye.

People in New South Wales head to the polling booths this weekend following what can only be considered as a meagre campaign by both major political parties. Liberal leader Peter Debnam has to date done little to enthuse the prospective voter, in fact has resorted to basically conceding defeat a fortnight prior. This must surely give Premier Iemma great joy and a slight sense of complacency but, this has in no way clouded his effort as a committed Politician. Morris Iemma is in no way a new boy on the block, he has been around NSW State Politics since 1991. He started out as Member for Hurstville and held that seat for almost eight years. In that time he became the ‘Parliamentary Secretary’ assisting the Attorney General, and Minister for Industrial Relations, a position he successfully filled for a little over two and a half years.

Morris Iemma’s career escalated when he became Parliamentary Secretary assisting the Premier, a position he filled actively until 1999 when he then became Member for Lakemba. Since then he has held many frontline Labor positions such as, Minister for Public Works and Services, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Health,
Treasurer, Minister for Citizenship, Minister for State Development, and of course Premier. Morris Iemma hasn’t hit the media headlines with a barrage of unfulfillable promises, instead he appears to have capitalised on an infrastructure that has been so far working relatively successfully. Important issues head the list such as; Building a recycled water grid across metropolitan Sydney that will increase the use of recycled water in Sydney to 100 billion litres per year. The grid will deliver recycled water to 250,000 new homes and businesses for use in gardens, toilets and laundries and industrial purposes; A $2 billion capital works program for public schools and TAFE colleges – the largest in the state’s history; The creation of a new 40 member domestic violence unit in the NSW Police Force and the creation of a specific new offence of domestic violence; and the establishment of 125 scholarships for rural midwives.

Peter Debnam however has been around the NSW political scene as Member for Vaucluse since 1994. He has held several positions within the Liberal faction but all positions to date have been shadow positions. Peter Debnams campaign has been one that in no way enthrals even the mildest of Labor voters. For starters, one of his election promises has been to sack 20,000 State Government Employees. His top ten priorities are to Rescue and grow the NSW economy right across the state; Tackle our water crisis and begin drought proofing NSW; Deliver the roads and infrastructure NSW has been waiting for; Stop the rot and restore accountability to State Government in NSW; Run a public transport system that commuters want to use; Get resources to our nurses on the frontline in our hospitals; Ensure the justice system protects our community first, not offenders; Re-empower and equip police to protect public safety; Make public schools an attractive choice for all families; and Take the lead on managing the impacts of climate. In all honesty Mr Debnam, I think you need to do a lot better than that to catch votes. The choice this weekend is an easy one.

I’m Phillip Pye.

[lennie]

[glow=red,2,300]This says it all:-[/glow]

NSW Opposition to spend $9.8b on election promises
from ABC Online

The New South Wales Opposition has released its election costings less than two days from the opening of the polls, showing spending promises of $9.8 billion.

The report was done by accounting firm KPMG after the Opposition refused to submit its costings to Treasury.

The Government released its own figures on Monday, showing spending commitments of $1.6 billion, making the Opposition's six times greater.

The report has no details of the savings the Opposition has been promising by cutting public sector jobs.

Asked whether it was being released late in the day to avoid media scrutiny, the Opposition's Treasury spokesman, Barry O'Farrell, blamed a photocopier breakdown.

When asked why Opposition Leader Peter Debnam was not there, Mr O'Farrell responded: "Mr Debnam's not here because he's campaigning on the central coast."

"You might know there's an election on on Saturday," he said.

The Treasurer, Michael Costa, is now responding to the report.

[lennie]

lennie said:

[glow=red,2,300]This says it all:-[/glow]

NSW Opposition to spend $9.8b on election promises
from ABC Online

The New South Wales Opposition has released its election costings less than two days from the opening of the polls, showing spending promises of $9.8 billion.

The report was done by accounting firm KPMG after the Opposition refused to submit its costings to Treasury.

The Government released its own figures on Monday, showing spending commitments of $1.6 billion, making the Opposition's six times greater.

The report has no details of the savings the Opposition has been promising by cutting public sector jobs.

Asked whether it was being released late in the day to avoid media scrutiny, the Opposition's Treasury spokesman, Barry O'Farrell, blamed a photocopier breakdown.

When asked why Opposition Leader Peter Debnam was not there, Mr O'Farrell responded: "Mr Debnam's not here because he's campaigning on the central coast."

"You might know there's an election on on Saturday," he said.

The Treasurer, Michael Costa, is now responding to the report.

ABC Radio reports that the reason the the $9.8 billion paperwork was not released was because the photocopier wasn't working. Haven't they heard of Officeworks yet?

[Flash]

DOUBTS about the Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, and fears about federal industrial relations laws have conspired to ensure a resounding win to Labor in NSW tomorrow, with its 16-seat buffer likely to remain intact.

A Herald/ACNielsen poll, taken on Tuesday and Wednesday, has Labor ahead 56 to 44 on a two-party-preferred basis. This is the same as the 2003 election result, and indicates Labor will retain its large majority, although there could be some small movement of seats to independents.

ACNielsen predicted the NSW election result in 2003 and the federal election of 2004.

The big win looks set to occur despite 52 per cent of the 1878 people polled saying the Iemma Government did not deserve to be re-elected. But voters seem to have even less faith in the Coalition - 57 per cent said it did not deserve to be elected.

The result suggests that Labor's campaign - focusing on Mr Debnam's competence as a businessman and his plans to cut the public service, backed by massive spending on television advertising - have hit home.

Mr Debnam's disapproval rating has hit a massive 51 per cent, higher even than that of one of his predecessors, Kerry Chikarovski, when she lost the 1999 election. The Premier, Morris Iemma, had a disapproval rating of 33 per cent.

ACNielsen's director of research, John Stirton, said Labor should win comfortably, although if a large number of preferences are exhausted - it is permissible to just vote "1" in state elections, without listing lesser choices - then the result could be a little tighter.

"This has been an extraordinary election. A majority of voters say the Government doesn't deserve to be re-elected, and support for independents and minor parties is growing," Mr Stirton said. "Despite this, a bigger majority say the Liberals don't deserve to win."

The disastrous poll for the Coalition came as it finally produced its election costings - just 36 hours before the polls open. The accounting firm KPMG signed off on the "arithmetic accuracy" of the costings. But no KPMG employee was available to answer questions on them.

The document revealed that on top of the $4 billion saved by not replacing 20,000 public servants as they retired, the Coalition planned to save a further $3.2 billion over four years through efficiency savings.

The Treasurer, Michael Costa, described the Coalition's claim as a "significant sleight of hand".