It is honestly almost impossible to know where to start this blog. The hysteria that we have seen in the past few days in Macquarie Street is unprecedented in my 40 odd years of watching political events and that is probably why they have knocked a "once in a century" financial crisis off the front page of the newspapers.
So it is not surprising that people everywhere are asking where has it all gone wrong? The interesting thing about this question is the look that people give when they ask is very much one of pain. Almost a 'please help me it hurts'. So let's give it a shot!
I think that the finances are a good starting point. The simple truth on this matter is that the crisis has been coming for a considerable period. The main problem (if you can exclude announcing infrastructure that is not costed nor delivered) is that expense growth has been running faster revenue growth for as long as you can remember. Just using the past 4 years as an example, we have seen revenue rise by an average of 5.4% and expenses at the same time have risen by 6.5%. In real terms this means we have gone backwards by about $450 million a year. In a sober thought, if expense growth had matched revenue growth during this period the budget this year would be $1.8 billion better off. Heavens! It gets worse though... if this was extended to the 13 years that NSW Labor has been in government, then we would have about $6 billion a year (not a one off) more to invest in schools, roads, public transport and health.
This problem becomes clear for all to see when revenues come under pressure from an economic slowdown. Oops did anyone mention sub-prime? So with the financial crisis upon us, revenues have all but stopped and expenses after more than a decade of ill-discipline are still running like the roadrunner. Result? A mini-budget that leads us on a dash for cash and punches a hole in every family budget.
Now I know that I have lost some with the financial glaze but stay strong, as I think the biggest problem that this State has suffered is a government that is willing to put marginal seat funding before a "statewide" policy. Barack Obama spoke, in delivering hope for a depressed nation, that he would pursue a "United" States of America and no longer wanted Washington to consider the country as a collection of blue and red states. These words resonate here in NSW. As we have waited for the building of much need statewide infrastructure and public transport, funds have been diverted towards those seats that were electorally important. In Manly we can only wonder why this Government cuts JetCat services, increases ferry fares and introduces a congestion tax while people in Parramatta can travel on the M4 for free and have their RiverCat reinstated despite being less reliable, and costing more to maintain than the JetCats.
Look in this I am not saying that I would not fight for a disproportionate amount of funding for Manly - as I would! However every local MP must balance local needs with the long-term interests of the State. I think every reasoned person in Manly would listen and likely respond to a Government that said we are in tough times and all of us have to pitch in. However the legitimacy of such claims are lost in the swirl of cynicism that rightly follows years of shameless pork barrelling, or in our case the opposite like ignoring matters such as the Spit corridor which in the State Government's own documents reveal it is the "slowest corridor" in Sydney. I also acknowledge that the focus on marginal seats has been pursued by both side of politics so I am not pretending we are the bastions of the moral high ground on this.
However, in order for NSW to be returned to the leading State in this country it has to stop. I for one would not want to be part of a government that looked after one part of Sydney to help our re-election but, left the rest to rot. There is a simple lesson that I learnt recently and that is we should always support good principles and good policy, and if we do that the politics (read elections) will take care of themselves. I think there is something in that!!
Cheers
Mike
