Well well well what a week in Macquarie Street. I wish I could tell you that this week we saw vision and legislative conquest for the ills of the oppressed but no, I can really only just sigh at the events that have dominated the headlines this week. There is a sense that all of us feel and that is NSW has become the taboo subject at barbeques. If anyone is travelling interstate there is almost an incessant shoe shuffling at introductory meetings as we all avoid to tell the world - yes I am a New South Welshman and I know what you are thinking. What has happened to the once premier state? To spare you a book rather than a blog I think the debate on donations gives a real insight into how we have gotten into this mess.

There is universal acclaim now (ie ALP, Greens, Independents and Liberals) that the system is broken and needs to be fixed. The ALP have resisted this push at almost every turn. They resisted the need for a parliamentary inquiry, they moved to keep the Greens off the committee (who have been vocal critics of the donation system for years) and put in a submission that proposed very limited changes. That was until this week ... enter headline after headline talking about the potential influence of donations on all forms of government, and hey presto the PR machine of the ALP whipped in to action. The game plan was simple - we need to get a good headline. The Premier was given a dorothy dixer in parliament, he announced what amounted to a few good initiatives, and presto that should be that! The well known call of "Houston we have a problem" should forever be replaced with "Sussex Street we have a problem".

The point here is that the announcements yesterday aren't part of a considered and comprehensive plan to reform the donation system notwithstanding they have some merit - they are an overt attempt to stem the tide of public opinion and create a "perception" that the Iemma Government is doing something about donations. Very simply they need to go a lot further. Why didn't the Iemma Government retract their original proposal for donation reform before the parliamentary inquiry and instead consult broadly (dare I say it even on a bi-partisan basis) with those involved and create a comprehensive proposal that fixed the problem once and for all? The answer can only be that headlines matter more than considered long-term strategic solutions.

Here is the rub - the issues facing Health, Transport, DOCS et al are approached in exactly the same way as they have dealt with donations this week. Unless you take the time to understand what needs to be fixed, then a few positive headlines aside, the problems besetting the state will remain.

It is not enough to say we are putting a record $12 billion into health - how is it being applied? What metrics are being used to drive performance? How do you know that the increased spend is going to the priority areas and will improve services? Simple questions to complex problems but, just like donation reform unless the Iemma Government begins to take the state’s problems seriously it is going to be a long three years.... Until they do I suggest you avoid all barbeques with anyone from another state!

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