New South Wales general election campaign, 2007
Encyclopedia
An election campaign was held ahead of a general election for the 54th Parliament
of New South Wales
on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The result—a win for the social-democratic Australian Labor Party
and its new leader Morris Iemma
—was widely perceived as a foregone conclusion, with opposition leader Peter Debnam
conceding as much the week before the poll.
Though water and infrastructure emerged as key issues in the campaign, much of the parties' advertising focussed on the negatives: Debnam's business record and Labor's record in office. The media concluded that the choice facing voters was in finding the lesser of two evils: the three major newspapers sold in New South Wales endorsed Debnam, though not without criticising his ineptitude on the campaign trail.
in 2005, Iemma was elected unopposed as his replacement.
Iemma maintained Labor's opinion poll lead, despite losing some of the government's most experienced ministers along with Carr himself. In 2005 and 2006, Iemma's government was hit by a series of scandals, such as the arrest of Aboriginal Affairs minister Milton Orkopoulos
and the financial collapse of the controversial Cross City Tunnel
. These and other incidents brought Iemma's political judgment into question.
One of Iemma's major achievements was to announce the New South Wales State Plan
, a ten-year blueprint for infrastructure development, law reform and social policy.
During the campaign, opposition attack ads focussed more on Iemma's least popular ministers, Joe Tripodi, Michael Costa and Frank Sartor
rather than the premier himself. Towards the end of the campaign, there was some discussion of Iemma's relationship with his former boss, Labor identity Graham Richardson
, who stood accused of tax avoidance at the time.
for the Liberals in 1994. Debnam served as a shadow minister under a succession of opposition leaders. Following John Brogden's sudden resignation as Liberal Leader, Barry O'Farrell
, as Deputy Leader, was initially the favourite to become leader, but Debnam steadily gained ground as he lobbied Liberal MPs, and on 31 August O'Farrell withdrew from the contest.
Between his appointment and the election, Debnam never quite shook the perception that under Brogden or O'Farrell, the party would have performed much better. This perception was reinforced when, in a bid to capitalise on the Orkopoulos scandal, the opposition leader raised unsubstantiated allegations against Attorney-General Bob Debus
in 2006.
During the campaign, Labor attacked Debnam's record as a businessman and his plans to cut the size of the public service. The Labor campaign also made a point of referring to the opposition leader as "the member for Vaucluse." Vaucluse, New South Wales
is one of Sydney's most exclusive suburbs.
and drought conditions were widespread in Australia in early 2007, with federal and state policymakers promising action. As the state election campaign got underway, Iemma was first among state leaders to endorse Prime Minister John Howard
's plan for the federal government to take a greater role in managing the Murray-Darling river system.
Metropolitan water supplies were also a big issue, with dams supplying the city of Sydney
falling to 30% of their design capacity during the campaign. Iemma's predecessor Bob Carr
had committed Labor to building a desalination
plant at Kurnell
in Sydney's south. Iemma made the controversial $1.9 billion project the centrepiece of his party's response to the city's dwindling water supply. A dam was also planned to boost water supplies on the state's Central Coast.
The Liberals rejected the desalination plant as unacceptable to residents, energy inefficient and harmful to the environment. Debnam championed the use of water recycling
to supplement the dams. Other Coalition commitments included an increase of the water tank
rebate to $1500, upgrades to country and costal towns' water supply infrastructure and a regional water grid to share rural water supplies.
Much of the Coalition's infrastructure promises were to be financed by the privatisation of New South Wales Lotteries, a state-owned enterprise reckoned to have a market value of around $800 million.
Fears of the state slipping into recession—the New South Wales economy shrank in the September quarter—were allayed after the state recorded positive growth in the December quarter. New South Wales did, however, continue to lag the other mainland states on economic growth.
The Liberals announced that they would cut 20,000 administrative positions from the public sector through natural attrition. Labor made this promise a particular focus for their advertising campaign, warning that such deep cuts would compromise service delivery: the advertising implied that the Liberals planned to sack teachers, nurses and police.
Labor planned a cut of 5,000, although Treasurer Michael Costa was quoted in March 2005 as telling the Public Sector Union that as many as 20% of the state's public servants were surplus to requirements.
The Liberals also committed themselves to privatising two state-owned enterprises, gambling operator New South Wales Lotteries and garbage company WSN Environmental Solutions
.
legislation remains controversial. Although most New South Wales workers are now covered by the WorkChoices system, public servants are not. A lobby group representing nurses ran television commercials attacking the Liberals on this point. This was despite Debnam guaranteeing industrial relations for all New South Wales public servants would remain under the control of the New South Wales government.
A significant point of difference between Labor and the Coalition concerns the long-planned Southern Freeway, which would link the F6 Freeway
at Waterfall with Southern Cross Drive
or the M5 South Western Motorway
near Sydney Airport. The link would improve travel times between the capital and Wollongong, the state's third city, but the corridor is currently public open space, and construction would be controversial. Labor opposes building the motorway, the Liberals support it.
The Liberals are also pushing a significant expansion of the city's light rail network, which Labor opposes. The Liberals were criticised for not putting forward a comprehensive plan for public transport at the election. The party claimed that it did not have access to sufficient information to make meaningful commitments in this area.
The Coalition was particularly critical of the pace at which the Pacific Highway
was being upgraded, as well as the controversy surrounding the Cross City Tunnel
.
Both Labor and the Coalition pledged to clear the backlog in public school maintenance that had developed since 2000.
An opinion poll judging the effectiveness of the parties' campaigns suggested that Labor's advertising was much better than that used by the Liberals.
, Kerry Hickey
, Milton Orkopoulos
and Carl Scully
. Without mentioning the scandals' specifics, the ads branded the government as "rotten to the core".
On 8 January 2007, Debnam launched "Get NSW back in front", a campaign designed around the state's declining economic performance relative to the other states. The principal focus was economic growth underpinned by better infrastructure, lower taxes and less red tape for business. The Sydney Morning Herald quipped that "with the Coalition trailing in the polls, it may equally refer to the Opposition Leader's prospects."
On 25 February, Debnam and Prime Minister John Howard
officially launched his party's campaign, under the slogan "Let's fix NSW". The focus was on water and transport infrastructure, an expansion in police numbers and improving the efficiency of the public sector. Liberal television advertising, however, made no mention of the party's policies: instead they attacked Treasurer Michael Costa's budget deficit, Roads Minister Joe Tripodi's role in the Cross City Tunnel
controversy and Planning Minister Frank Sartor
's approach to urban consolidation.
The National Party of Australia
, the Liberals' junior coalition partner, ran on the slogan "It's over for Labor," focussing on infrastructure and health as key issues.
and Bob Carr
were not invited.
The slogan attracted derision from across the news media. A number of reporters demanded - without success - to know who came up with it.
The opposition claimed that the incumbents' strategy was to disassociate themselves from their first 10 years in office, noting the use of phrases like "more to do" and the strong focus on Iemma's, rather than the party's, branding. "Morris Iemma's trying to pretend that he's Rip Van Winkel," deputy Liberal leader Barry O'Farrell said. "That he woke up and found himself in government 18 months ago - the public don't buy it."
Some of Labor's television campaign had Iemma explaining aspects of his policies, the remainder attacked Debnam's business career and industrial relations policies.
Labor also benefited from extensive government-funded advertising in the months before the election. Television ads for the New South Wales State Plan
, the Metropolitan Water Strategy and other government policies and plans were criticised by the opposition and media as ALP propaganda.
was dumped from the front bench after being caught misleading parliament over a report into the 2005 Cronulla riots
. Scully was one of the government's most experienced ministers and the loss was considered significant. Within a fortnight, however, the government was rocked by the 7 November arrest, on child-sex and drug charges, of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Milton Orkopoulos
.
At the same time, lesser scandals tarnished Local Government Minister Kerry Hickey
, and candidates Phil Koperberg and Aaron Beasley. This, coupled with an announcement by Attorney-General Bob Debus
that he would be leaving state politics, gave the impression of a Labor government in disarray. The following month, backbencher Steven Chaytor
revealed that he had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. An Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation was launched into MPs Cherie Burton
and John Aquilina
after a Burton staffer was found to have embezzled government funds.
The opposition, which according to polls had failed to make headway against Iemma thus far, seized its opportunity. On 13 November the Liberals launched newspaper and television ads asserting that "when politicians are more interested in protecting their own careers, while the state crumbles around them, you know that something is rotten to its very core there's no choice but to get rid of it."
It was not long before the Liberals' campaign against ruling-party sleaze faltered. On 16 November, Debnam suggested in parliament that Debus was under investigation by the Police Integrity Commission
. In response the Government released a police report stating that a minister had been the subject of complaints (not an investigation) which were dismissed in 2003 as spurious and groundless. The report did not name the minister concerned as it was deemed to be 'not in the public interest'. Debnam's attack backfired spectacularly, throwing the spotlight on his judgement and not Iemma's.
("A new direction for New South Wales") on 14 November. The document, developed with extensive community consultation and containing a number of big-ticket infrastructure projects was heavily promoted across web, print and broadcast media. At $10 million, the State Plan cost more to promote than it did to develop. Debnam labelled the campaign "an outrageous waste of taxpayer funds" and demanded that the Labor party pay for it.
With the ministerial scandals neutralised and the State Plan launched, one of Labor's few remaining worries for the election was the completion of the new Lane Cove Tunnel
. Labor feared that the tunnel could prove every bit as problematic as the controversial Cross City Tunnel
. At issue in both projects were changes to existing surface roads designed to funnel traffic into the new motorways.
When the tunnel operators, Connector Motorways
, announced that the project would open ahead of schedule and before the election, the government negotitated a delay to the planned surface changes. Connector was paid $25 million in compensation, a payment The Sydney Morning Herald described as a "bribe". "The use of public funds to compensate Connector Motorways for delays to road changes around the tunnel is ... as cynical a piece of political jobbery as Sydney has seen in many a long year," the newspaper wrote.
Connector later announced it was deferring the tunnel opening until the day after the election.
.
Costa, on whose watch the New South Wales budget had slipped into deficit, faced the prospect of the state slipping into recession on the eve of the election. The treasurer attempted to blame central-bank independence for the state's poor performance, but the issue fell from view after the state economy registered weak growth in the final quarter of 2006 - enough to avert a technical recession.
Costa's record as treasurer wasn't the only problem: he reacted to the Liberals' campaign against himself, Tripodi and Sartor by claiming that the opposition was targeting "a bunch of people with Italian sounding names." The remark was widely dismissed as a gaffe, Costa played a low-key role in the campaign from that point on.
Tripodi, tainted by the Orange Grove affair
, a 2000 sex scandal and the Cross City Tunnel controversy, was a significant electoral liability. On 10 February, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that former premier Bob Carr
had been lobbying government MPs to stop planned reforms to marina development rules. Sources claiemd that Carr was particularly critical of Waterways Minister Joe Tripodi. Tripodi was also singled out for criticism by independent MPs on 25 February, with the Sun-Herald reporting that the group would not support a minority Labor government if the controversial minister remained in cabinet.
On 21 February, Iemma was forced to apologise to Sydney commuters after thousands gathered in the CBD to watch the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2 dock in Sydney Harbour. Police and public transport officials were overwhelmed by the size of the response, which gridlocked roads, buses, trains and ferries.
On the Coalition side, it was the performance of Debnam as leader that was causing the most concern. Debnam drew criticism for outlining his vision for "practical multiculturalism" during a citizenship ceremony on 26 January, Australia Day
. In an apparent echo of Don Brash
's popular 2004 Orewa Speech
, Debnam told the audience that multiculturalism had to become "a policy for inclusion, not separation". His use of the citizenship ceremony to make a campaign speech was criticised by his host, Sutherland Shire
mayor David Redmond, as well as by Iemma.
Debnam failed to gain ground when, on 16 February, he met Iemma for the state's first-ever leaders debate, broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
's Stateline programmehttp://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2006/s1850166.htm. Iemma rebuffed Debnam's repeated demands for a second debate.
But while Debnam struggled, his deputy, Barry O'Farrell
and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner
cemented their credentials as formidable media performers, the latter mounting an impassioned defence of the Liberal leader in the closing days of the campaign.
The Liberals suffered a more amusing distraction after details emerged of a lewd SMS Wyong
candidate Brenton Pavier had sent to friends at Christmas. While he backed Debnam's decision to dump him, Pavier briefly considered running for Wyong as an independent.
On 4 March, the Sun-Herald reported that the government had brokered a secret deal with publicans to increase the number of poker machines in the state's pubs. The large number of poker machines in New South Wales is controversial, and the alleged deal was condemned by the Greens
and ClubsNSW. Pubs and clubs contributed $2 million to Labor's election campaign, and sales of currently unallocated poker machine licenses could net the treasury up to $200 million. The government and the Australian Hoteliers Association, representing publicans, denied a deal had been done.
A few days later, evidence emerged of Labor channelling financial and other assistance to independent campaigns across New South Wales. Labor stood accused of supporting independent candidates in Goulburn
, Murrumbidgee
, Orange
and Pittwater
. An organisation linked to the ALP was found to have contributed financially to the campaigns of sitting independent MP Rob Oakeshott
and former independent Tony McGrane
. The ALP denied any impropriety.
The final week saw national politics dominate the headlines as the Iraq War entered its fourth year, Senator Santo Santoro
resigned and federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd
, enjoying record approval ratings, announced plans to draw on the Future Fund to finance a nationwide fibre to the node broadband network. On the New South Wales campaign trail, much of the debate in the final week centred on costings.
Labor's own promises, costed by Treasury at $1.6 billion over five years were themselves enough to push the state further into deficit. When Labor demanded that the opposition's figures be made available to Treasury for scrutiny, the Liberals, fearing political interference, engaged auditors KPMG
instead. On 22 March, O'Farrell revealed that his party's promises would cost $9.8 billion over five years, though he claimed that this spending would be matched by savings and proceeds from asset sales.
. Though each newspaper expressed misgivings about Debnam's campaigning ability and called the result in Labor's favour, they were unanimous in their attack on Iemma's record.
The Telegraph, the state's highest-circulation newspaper, castigated the incumbents in no uncertain terms: "It's hard to envisage a more tired, rotten, arrogant, useless government than this lot," ran their editorial. The paper slammed Labor's "wholly negative campaign, sneeringly denouncing Peter Debnam's small business record – breathtaking stuff from a Government led by a man whose chief professional experience before Parliament was advising shyster and fixer Graham Richardson."
The Telegraph judged Debnam's campaign to have been "incompetent": "He is not a buffoon, yet he has acted one with his campaign gimmickry. He has created traps for himself through silly stunts," it wrote.
In the Telegraph's view, "No way do they deserve another shot."
The Sydney Morning Herald, a broadsheet, characterised the campaign as "undistinguished" and the rival leaders as "lacklustre". Its editorial focussed on Labor's record over the past 12 years: "New South Wales is feeling the effects of ... second-rateism. It languishes near the bottom on the states' economic league table," the paper wrote. The Herald also criticised "the politicisation of the public service" and a state government "addicted to secrecy". "It is, we admit, an uninspiring choice for voters," the Herald concluded, however "We believe the re-election of Labor is simply one risk too many."
The Australian concurred, in an editorial entitled "Both sides have failed in NSW":
The paper called on voters to "suspend their natural suspicion of Mr Debnam and punish the Government," adding that they did so "in the full knowledge that it won't happen".
Opinion polls conducted in the leadup to the election consistently put Iemma ahead of Debnam as preferred premier. According to Newspoll, as of December 2006, 45% of respondents backed Iemma, while only 23% backed Debnam.
Although the Coalition fared better in polls of voting intention, the Liberals and Nationals consistently trailed Labor. According to Newspoll, the Coalition has not led the ALP since early 2006. Pollster Roy Morgan says that Labor has consistently led the Coalition since Iemma became premier. The most recent Roy Morgan figure showed Labor well ahead, 60.5% to 39.5%, on a two-party-preferred basis.
Given the size of the government's majority - a hangover from the 1999
and 2003
landslides - the Coalition needed to perform far better to have had a chance of taking office.
Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of New South Wales, located in Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, is the main legislative body in the Australian state of New South Wales . It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections. The parliament shares law making powers with...
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The result—a win for the social-democratic Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
and its new leader Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma , is a former Australian politician and 40th Premier of New South Wales, succeeding Bob Carr after he resigned on 3 August 2005. Iemma led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the 2007 election before resigning as Premier on 5 September 2008, and as a Member of Parliament on 19...
—was widely perceived as a foregone conclusion, with opposition leader Peter Debnam
Peter Debnam
Peter John Debnam , is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Vaucluse between 1994 and 2011. Debnam is a former Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney,...
conceding as much the week before the poll.
Though water and infrastructure emerged as key issues in the campaign, much of the parties' advertising focussed on the negatives: Debnam's business record and Labor's record in office. The media concluded that the choice facing voters was in finding the lesser of two evils: the three major newspapers sold in New South Wales endorsed Debnam, though not without criticising his ineptitude on the campaign trail.
Labor
Labor leader Morris Iemma, a former union official, had represented Labor in the Legislative Assembly since 1991. Labor won office at the 1995 election, and Iemma became a parliamentary secretary. From 1999, he held several portfolios, culminating in two years in the challenging role of Health minister. With the surprise resignation of Premier Bob CarrBob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
in 2005, Iemma was elected unopposed as his replacement.
Iemma maintained Labor's opinion poll lead, despite losing some of the government's most experienced ministers along with Carr himself. In 2005 and 2006, Iemma's government was hit by a series of scandals, such as the arrest of Aboriginal Affairs minister Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos is a former Australian Labor Party politician, and convicted criminal. A member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999, Orkopoulos was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship in August 2005.In November 2006, New...
and the financial collapse of the controversial Cross City Tunnel
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs...
. These and other incidents brought Iemma's political judgment into question.
One of Iemma's major achievements was to announce the New South Wales State Plan
New South Wales State Plan
The State Plan, A New Direction for NSW is a document prepared by the New South Wales Premier's Department within the Government of New South Wales and released on November 14, 2006...
, a ten-year blueprint for infrastructure development, law reform and social policy.
During the campaign, opposition attack ads focussed more on Iemma's least popular ministers, Joe Tripodi, Michael Costa and Frank Sartor
Frank Sartor
Francesco Ernest 'Frank' Sartor JP a former Australian politician, was New South Wales Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health between 2009 and 2011. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Rockdale for the...
rather than the premier himself. Towards the end of the campaign, there was some discussion of Iemma's relationship with his former boss, Labor identity Graham Richardson
Graham Richardson
Graham Frederick Richardson , a former Australian politician, was a Senator for New South Wales from 1983–94 for the Australian Labor Party, a senior minister in Hawke and Keating governments, and is now a political lobbyist, public speaker, and media commentator. During his time in politics,...
, who stood accused of tax avoidance at the time.
Coalition
Peter Debnam, a former naval officer and businessman, was elected to represent the seat of VaucluseElectoral district of Vaucluse
Vaucluse is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, based on the suburb of Vaucluse. Vaucluse is one of two original electorates to have never been held by the opposing Labor party and always by the Liberal Party or its predecessors, the other...
for the Liberals in 1994. Debnam served as a shadow minister under a succession of opposition leaders. Following John Brogden's sudden resignation as Liberal Leader, Barry O'Farrell
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...
, as Deputy Leader, was initially the favourite to become leader, but Debnam steadily gained ground as he lobbied Liberal MPs, and on 31 August O'Farrell withdrew from the contest.
Between his appointment and the election, Debnam never quite shook the perception that under Brogden or O'Farrell, the party would have performed much better. This perception was reinforced when, in a bid to capitalise on the Orkopoulos scandal, the opposition leader raised unsubstantiated allegations against Attorney-General Bob Debus
Bob Debus
Robert John "Bob" Debus AM , a former Australian politician, has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the Australian Labor Party. Debus has been a minister in both the Australian and New South Wales governments...
in 2006.
During the campaign, Labor attacked Debnam's record as a businessman and his plans to cut the size of the public service. The Labor campaign also made a point of referring to the opposition leader as "the member for Vaucluse." Vaucluse, New South Wales
Vaucluse, New South Wales
Vaucluse is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Vaucluse is located north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Waverley Council and the Municipality of Woollahra....
is one of Sydney's most exclusive suburbs.
Water
Concern over climate changeClimate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
and drought conditions were widespread in Australia in early 2007, with federal and state policymakers promising action. As the state election campaign got underway, Iemma was first among state leaders to endorse Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
's plan for the federal government to take a greater role in managing the Murray-Darling river system.
Metropolitan water supplies were also a big issue, with dams supplying the city of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
falling to 30% of their design capacity during the campaign. Iemma's predecessor Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
had committed Labor to building a desalination
Desalination
Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...
plant at Kurnell
Kurnell, New South Wales
Kurnell is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kurnell is located south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....
in Sydney's south. Iemma made the controversial $1.9 billion project the centrepiece of his party's response to the city's dwindling water supply. A dam was also planned to boost water supplies on the state's Central Coast.
The Liberals rejected the desalination plant as unacceptable to residents, energy inefficient and harmful to the environment. Debnam championed the use of water recycling
Reclaimed water
Reclaimed water or recycled water, is former wastewater that is treated to remove solids and certain impurities, and used in sustainable landscaping irrigation or to recharge groundwater aquifers...
to supplement the dams. Other Coalition commitments included an increase of the water tank
Water tank
A Water tank is a container for storing water. The need for a water tank is as old as civilized man, providing storage of water for drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many...
rebate to $1500, upgrades to country and costal towns' water supply infrastructure and a regional water grid to share rural water supplies.
Much of the Coalition's infrastructure promises were to be financed by the privatisation of New South Wales Lotteries, a state-owned enterprise reckoned to have a market value of around $800 million.
Economy
The state's economy is also an issue. Despite more than a decade of uninterrupted economic growth at a national level, New South Wales has begun to lag the other states in both jobs and growth figures.Fears of the state slipping into recession—the New South Wales economy shrank in the September quarter—were allayed after the state recorded positive growth in the December quarter. New South Wales did, however, continue to lag the other mainland states on economic growth.
Public sector
The size and efficiency of the New South Wales public sector was a campaign issue. Significant wage growth had made New South Wales public servants the most expensive to employ, and although there were calls for more police, there was also wide agreement that the size of the bureaucracy needed to be reduced. Debnam characterised the size and expense of the public service as "out of control" and promised productivity improvements.The Liberals announced that they would cut 20,000 administrative positions from the public sector through natural attrition. Labor made this promise a particular focus for their advertising campaign, warning that such deep cuts would compromise service delivery: the advertising implied that the Liberals planned to sack teachers, nurses and police.
Labor planned a cut of 5,000, although Treasurer Michael Costa was quoted in March 2005 as telling the Public Sector Union that as many as 20% of the state's public servants were surplus to requirements.
The Liberals also committed themselves to privatising two state-owned enterprises, gambling operator New South Wales Lotteries and garbage company WSN Environmental Solutions
WSN Environmental Solutions
WSN Environmental Solutions was a major waste disposal company in New South Wales, Australia owned by the New South Wales Government. SITA Australia acquired WSN in February 2011 for $235AU million. The acquisition of WSN now makes SITA Australia's largest most advanced waste management network"...
.
Industrial relations
Iemma has accused the Liberals of planning to refer the state's industrial relations powers to the Australian Government, whose WorkChoicesWorkChoices
The Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, popularly known as Work Choices, was a Legislative Act of the Australian Parliament that came into effect in March 2006 which involved many controversial amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the...
legislation remains controversial. Although most New South Wales workers are now covered by the WorkChoices system, public servants are not. A lobby group representing nurses ran television commercials attacking the Liberals on this point. This was despite Debnam guaranteeing industrial relations for all New South Wales public servants would remain under the control of the New South Wales government.
Infrastructure
The government is vulnerable on the issue of infrastructure. Although water infrastructure has taken centre stage in the campaign; interruptions to the electricity supply, poor service levels on ferries and trains, and controversies surrounding major road projects have taken their toll on the government's image.A significant point of difference between Labor and the Coalition concerns the long-planned Southern Freeway, which would link the F6 Freeway
Southern Freeway
Southern Freeway is a freeway linking Sydney to Wollongong. It currently is designated as part of National Route 1, however was formerly signposted as F6 under a former route numbering system, and is commonly known by this latter name...
at Waterfall with Southern Cross Drive
Southern Cross Drive
Southern Cross Drive is a major road in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This freeway links the Eastern Distributor at Moore Park to General Holmes Drive at Sydney Airport. Eastlakes Golf Club runs alongside Southern Cross Drive...
or the M5 South Western Motorway
M5 South Western Motorway
The M5 South Western Motorway is a privately operated tolled motorway in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 5 and the Sydney Orbital Network...
near Sydney Airport. The link would improve travel times between the capital and Wollongong, the state's third city, but the corridor is currently public open space, and construction would be controversial. Labor opposes building the motorway, the Liberals support it.
The Liberals are also pushing a significant expansion of the city's light rail network, which Labor opposes. The Liberals were criticised for not putting forward a comprehensive plan for public transport at the election. The party claimed that it did not have access to sufficient information to make meaningful commitments in this area.
The Coalition was particularly critical of the pace at which the Pacific Highway
Pacific Highway (Australia)
The Pacific Highway is a major transport route along part of the east coast of Australia and is part of Australia's national route 1.It is 960 km long and links Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, along the coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port...
was being upgraded, as well as the controversy surrounding the Cross City Tunnel
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs...
.
Both Labor and the Coalition pledged to clear the backlog in public school maintenance that had developed since 2000.
Campaigns
Labor outspent their opponents, buying $7 million worth of television, radio and print advertising against the Liberals' $3 million. Labor also benefited from the state government's substantial advertising spend, which totalled $10 million in 2006.An opinion poll judging the effectiveness of the parties' campaigns suggested that Labor's advertising was much better than that used by the Liberals.
Let's fix NSW
In effect, the campaign's opening shot came in the form of Liberal print and television ads in response to scandals involving Labor MPs Steven ChaytorSteven Chaytor
Steven John Chaytor is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2007, representing the southwest Sydney electorate of Macquarie Fields....
, Kerry Hickey
Kerry Hickey
Kerry Arthur Hickey , a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Cessnock between 1999 and 2011 for the Australian Labor Party....
, Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos is a former Australian Labor Party politician, and convicted criminal. A member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999, Orkopoulos was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship in August 2005.In November 2006, New...
and Carl Scully
Carl Scully
Patrick Carl Scully , was an Australian politician and minister in the New South Wales state government before his forced resignation on 25 October 2006....
. Without mentioning the scandals' specifics, the ads branded the government as "rotten to the core".
On 8 January 2007, Debnam launched "Get NSW back in front", a campaign designed around the state's declining economic performance relative to the other states. The principal focus was economic growth underpinned by better infrastructure, lower taxes and less red tape for business. The Sydney Morning Herald quipped that "with the Coalition trailing in the polls, it may equally refer to the Opposition Leader's prospects."
On 25 February, Debnam and Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
officially launched his party's campaign, under the slogan "Let's fix NSW". The focus was on water and transport infrastructure, an expansion in police numbers and improving the efficiency of the public sector. Liberal television advertising, however, made no mention of the party's policies: instead they attacked Treasurer Michael Costa's budget deficit, Roads Minister Joe Tripodi's role in the Cross City Tunnel
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs...
controversy and Planning Minister Frank Sartor
Frank Sartor
Francesco Ernest 'Frank' Sartor JP a former Australian politician, was New South Wales Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health between 2009 and 2011. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Rockdale for the...
's approach to urban consolidation.
The National Party of Australia
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
, the Liberals' junior coalition partner, ran on the slogan "It's over for Labor," focussing on infrastructure and health as key issues.
Heading in the right direction
Labor officially launched its campaign, "More to do but we're heading in the right direction," on 18 February. The launch event was low key: Labor luminaries such as state ministers and former premiers Neville WranNeville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
and Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
were not invited.
The slogan attracted derision from across the news media. A number of reporters demanded - without success - to know who came up with it.
The opposition claimed that the incumbents' strategy was to disassociate themselves from their first 10 years in office, noting the use of phrases like "more to do" and the strong focus on Iemma's, rather than the party's, branding. "Morris Iemma's trying to pretend that he's Rip Van Winkel," deputy Liberal leader Barry O'Farrell said. "That he woke up and found himself in government 18 months ago - the public don't buy it."
Some of Labor's television campaign had Iemma explaining aspects of his policies, the remainder attacked Debnam's business career and industrial relations policies.
Labor also benefited from extensive government-funded advertising in the months before the election. Television ads for the New South Wales State Plan
New South Wales State Plan
The State Plan, A New Direction for NSW is a document prepared by the New South Wales Premier's Department within the Government of New South Wales and released on November 14, 2006...
, the Metropolitan Water Strategy and other government policies and plans were criticised by the opposition and media as ALP propaganda.
Campaign Trail
With the state's system of fixed parliamentary terms, the election date was known long in advance, denying the incumbents the opportunity to set the election date. This has the effect of lengthening the campaign season beyond the customary one month. The opening shots of the election campaign came in November 2006 as the Iemma government found itself mired in a series of ministerial scandals.Something is rotten
Over the course of two weeks, Labor lost two ministers to scandal. First, Police Minister Carl ScullyCarl Scully
Patrick Carl Scully , was an Australian politician and minister in the New South Wales state government before his forced resignation on 25 October 2006....
was dumped from the front bench after being caught misleading parliament over a report into the 2005 Cronulla riots
2005 Cronulla riots
The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of sectarian clashes and mob violence originating in Cronulla, New South Wales and spreading, over the next few nights, to additional Sydney suburbs....
. Scully was one of the government's most experienced ministers and the loss was considered significant. Within a fortnight, however, the government was rocked by the 7 November arrest, on child-sex and drug charges, of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos
Milton Orkopoulos is a former Australian Labor Party politician, and convicted criminal. A member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1999, Orkopoulos was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship in August 2005.In November 2006, New...
.
At the same time, lesser scandals tarnished Local Government Minister Kerry Hickey
Kerry Hickey
Kerry Arthur Hickey , a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Cessnock between 1999 and 2011 for the Australian Labor Party....
, and candidates Phil Koperberg and Aaron Beasley. This, coupled with an announcement by Attorney-General Bob Debus
Bob Debus
Robert John "Bob" Debus AM , a former Australian politician, has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the Australian Labor Party. Debus has been a minister in both the Australian and New South Wales governments...
that he would be leaving state politics, gave the impression of a Labor government in disarray. The following month, backbencher Steven Chaytor
Steven Chaytor
Steven John Chaytor is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2007, representing the southwest Sydney electorate of Macquarie Fields....
revealed that he had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. An Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation was launched into MPs Cherie Burton
Cherie Burton
Cherie Ann Burton an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Kogarah for the Australian Labor Party since 1999.- Biography :...
and John Aquilina
John Aquilina
John Joseph Aquilina , an Australian politician, is a former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Blacktown between 1981 and 1991 and the electorate of Riverstone between 1991 and 2011 for the Australian Labor Party.Between 1986 and 1988 and again...
after a Burton staffer was found to have embezzled government funds.
The opposition, which according to polls had failed to make headway against Iemma thus far, seized its opportunity. On 13 November the Liberals launched newspaper and television ads asserting that "when politicians are more interested in protecting their own careers, while the state crumbles around them, you know that something is rotten to its very core there's no choice but to get rid of it."
It was not long before the Liberals' campaign against ruling-party sleaze faltered. On 16 November, Debnam suggested in parliament that Debus was under investigation by the Police Integrity Commission
Police Integrity Commission
The Police Integrity Commission was established in 1996 upon the recommendation of the Royal Commission in to the New South Wales Police Service. The commission is a corporation established by the New South Wales Government to prevent, detect and investigate alleged serious misconduct in the New...
. In response the Government released a police report stating that a minister had been the subject of complaints (not an investigation) which were dismissed in 2003 as spurious and groundless. The report did not name the minister concerned as it was deemed to be 'not in the public interest'. Debnam's attack backfired spectacularly, throwing the spotlight on his judgement and not Iemma's.
A new direction for New South Wales
Signalling that the campaign was underway, Labor counterattacked with the release of its New South Wales State PlanNew South Wales State Plan
The State Plan, A New Direction for NSW is a document prepared by the New South Wales Premier's Department within the Government of New South Wales and released on November 14, 2006...
("A new direction for New South Wales") on 14 November. The document, developed with extensive community consultation and containing a number of big-ticket infrastructure projects was heavily promoted across web, print and broadcast media. At $10 million, the State Plan cost more to promote than it did to develop. Debnam labelled the campaign "an outrageous waste of taxpayer funds" and demanded that the Labor party pay for it.
With the ministerial scandals neutralised and the State Plan launched, one of Labor's few remaining worries for the election was the completion of the new Lane Cove Tunnel
Lane Cove Tunnel
The Lane Cove Tunnel is a A$1.1 billion, 3.6 km twin tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia, connecting the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Network...
. Labor feared that the tunnel could prove every bit as problematic as the controversial Cross City Tunnel
Cross City Tunnel
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long tunnel located in Sydney, Australia. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs...
. At issue in both projects were changes to existing surface roads designed to funnel traffic into the new motorways.
When the tunnel operators, Connector Motorways
Connector Motorways
Connector Motorways is an Australian toll road operator. Connector owns the Lane Cove Tunnel and the Falcon Street Gateway in northern Sydney. Both projects opened to the public in March 2007....
, announced that the project would open ahead of schedule and before the election, the government negotitated a delay to the planned surface changes. Connector was paid $25 million in compensation, a payment The Sydney Morning Herald described as a "bribe". "The use of public funds to compensate Connector Motorways for delays to road changes around the tunnel is ... as cynical a piece of political jobbery as Sydney has seen in many a long year," the newspaper wrote.
Connector later announced it was deferring the tunnel opening until the day after the election.
Costa, Tripodi, Sartor
With polls suggesting that most voters liked Iemma personally, the Liberals zeroed in on the three government ministers thought to be least popular: Treasurer Michael Costa, Roads Minister Joe Tripodi and Planning Minister Frank SartorFrank Sartor
Francesco Ernest 'Frank' Sartor JP a former Australian politician, was New South Wales Minister for Climate Change and the Environment and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health between 2009 and 2011. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Rockdale for the...
.
Costa, on whose watch the New South Wales budget had slipped into deficit, faced the prospect of the state slipping into recession on the eve of the election. The treasurer attempted to blame central-bank independence for the state's poor performance, but the issue fell from view after the state economy registered weak growth in the final quarter of 2006 - enough to avert a technical recession.
Costa's record as treasurer wasn't the only problem: he reacted to the Liberals' campaign against himself, Tripodi and Sartor by claiming that the opposition was targeting "a bunch of people with Italian sounding names." The remark was widely dismissed as a gaffe, Costa played a low-key role in the campaign from that point on.
Tripodi, tainted by the Orange Grove affair
Orange Grove affair
The Orange Grove affair was a political scandal in Australia concerning the dealings of the New South Wales state Australian Labor Party government with multinational corporation The Westfield Group. It resulted from a court decision to force the closure of the Orange Grove shopping centre after a...
, a 2000 sex scandal and the Cross City Tunnel controversy, was a significant electoral liability. On 10 February, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that former premier Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
had been lobbying government MPs to stop planned reforms to marina development rules. Sources claiemd that Carr was particularly critical of Waterways Minister Joe Tripodi. Tripodi was also singled out for criticism by independent MPs on 25 February, with the Sun-Herald reporting that the group would not support a minority Labor government if the controversial minister remained in cabinet.
On 21 February, Iemma was forced to apologise to Sydney commuters after thousands gathered in the CBD to watch the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2 dock in Sydney Harbour. Police and public transport officials were overwhelmed by the size of the response, which gridlocked roads, buses, trains and ferries.
On the Coalition side, it was the performance of Debnam as leader that was causing the most concern. Debnam drew criticism for outlining his vision for "practical multiculturalism" during a citizenship ceremony on 26 January, Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
. In an apparent echo of Don Brash
Don Brash
Donald "Don" Thomas Brash , a New Zealand politician, was Leader of the Opposition, parliamentary leader of the National Party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006 and the leader of the ACT Party for 28th April 2011 - 26 November 2011...
's popular 2004 Orewa Speech
Orewa Speech
The Orewa Speech was a speech delivered by the then-leader of the New Zealand National Party Don Brash to the Orewa Rotary Club on 27 January 2004. It addressed the theme of race relations in New Zealand and in particular the special status of Māori people...
, Debnam told the audience that multiculturalism had to become "a policy for inclusion, not separation". His use of the citizenship ceremony to make a campaign speech was criticised by his host, Sutherland Shire
Sutherland Shire
The Sutherland Shire is a Local Government Area in the Southern Sydney region of Sydney, Australia. Geographically, it is the area to the south of Botany Bay and the Georges River...
mayor David Redmond, as well as by Iemma.
Debnam failed to gain ground when, on 16 February, he met Iemma for the state's first-ever leaders debate, broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Stateline programmehttp://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2006/s1850166.htm. Iemma rebuffed Debnam's repeated demands for a second debate.
But while Debnam struggled, his deputy, Barry O'Farrell
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...
and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner
Andrew Stoner
Andrew John Stoner is an Australian politician, Deputy Premier of New South Wales and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Oxley since the 1999 state election, and the Leader of the New South Wales National Party since 31 March 2003...
cemented their credentials as formidable media performers, the latter mounting an impassioned defence of the Liberal leader in the closing days of the campaign.
The Liberals suffered a more amusing distraction after details emerged of a lewd SMS Wyong
Electoral district of Wyong
Wyong is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. The district is a 44,017 km² urban and semi-rural electorate on the Central Coast. The main urban centres are the towns of Wyong, Toukley and Wyee...
candidate Brenton Pavier had sent to friends at Christmas. While he backed Debnam's decision to dump him, Pavier briefly considered running for Wyong as an independent.
'The Labor Party is going to win the election'
As the last month of the campaign began, two polls showed that Labor had extended its lead over the Coalition and could even gain seats at the election. The Australian published Newspoll results that put Labor ahead on a two-party-preferred basis, 59% to 41%. The Sydney Morning Herald published ACNielsen results putting Labor ahead 57% to 43%. Three weeks later, polls indicated that Labor would be returned without losing any seats. On 16 March, Debnam took the unprecedented step of effectively conceding defeat, telling the press that "the message is very clear: the Labor Party is going to win the election in a week."On 4 March, the Sun-Herald reported that the government had brokered a secret deal with publicans to increase the number of poker machines in the state's pubs. The large number of poker machines in New South Wales is controversial, and the alleged deal was condemned by the Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
and ClubsNSW. Pubs and clubs contributed $2 million to Labor's election campaign, and sales of currently unallocated poker machine licenses could net the treasury up to $200 million. The government and the Australian Hoteliers Association, representing publicans, denied a deal had been done.
A few days later, evidence emerged of Labor channelling financial and other assistance to independent campaigns across New South Wales. Labor stood accused of supporting independent candidates in Goulburn
Electoral district of Goulburn
Goulburn is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Pru Goward of the Liberal Party of Australia....
, Murrumbidgee
Electoral district of Murrumbidgee
Murrumbidgee is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, named after the Murrumbidgee River. It is represented by Adrian Piccoli of the National Party of Australia....
, Orange
Electoral district of Orange
Orange is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Andrew Gee of the National Party of Australia....
and Pittwater
Electoral district of Pittwater
Pittwater is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. Located in Sydney's north-east, it is 175.32 km² in size, and comprises the local government area of Pittwater Council and parts of Warringah Council...
. An organisation linked to the ALP was found to have contributed financially to the campaigns of sitting independent MP Rob Oakeshott
Rob Oakeshott
Robert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...
and former independent Tony McGrane
Tony McGrane
Anthony Michael McGrane was an Australian politician.McGrane was born in Forbes. He had a lengthy career in local government, as a long serving councillor in Gilgandra and Dubbo....
. The ALP denied any impropriety.
The final week saw national politics dominate the headlines as the Iraq War entered its fourth year, Senator Santo Santoro
Santo Santoro
Santo Santoro , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from October 2002 to March 2007, representing the state of Queensland....
resigned and federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
, enjoying record approval ratings, announced plans to draw on the Future Fund to finance a nationwide fibre to the node broadband network. On the New South Wales campaign trail, much of the debate in the final week centred on costings.
Labor's own promises, costed by Treasury at $1.6 billion over five years were themselves enough to push the state further into deficit. When Labor demanded that the opposition's figures be made available to Treasury for scrutiny, the Liberals, fearing political interference, engaged auditors KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
instead. On 22 March, O'Farrell revealed that his party's promises would cost $9.8 billion over five years, though he claimed that this spending would be matched by savings and proceeds from asset sales.
'No way do they deserve another shot'
The newspaper editorials on the eve of the election held little cheer for either party. The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph had each endorsed Labor at the 2003 electionNew South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
. Though each newspaper expressed misgivings about Debnam's campaigning ability and called the result in Labor's favour, they were unanimous in their attack on Iemma's record.
The Telegraph, the state's highest-circulation newspaper, castigated the incumbents in no uncertain terms: "It's hard to envisage a more tired, rotten, arrogant, useless government than this lot," ran their editorial. The paper slammed Labor's "wholly negative campaign, sneeringly denouncing Peter Debnam's small business record – breathtaking stuff from a Government led by a man whose chief professional experience before Parliament was advising shyster and fixer Graham Richardson."
The Telegraph judged Debnam's campaign to have been "incompetent": "He is not a buffoon, yet he has acted one with his campaign gimmickry. He has created traps for himself through silly stunts," it wrote.
If this election campaign has proved anything, it is this: Labor has completely lost its way on policy – and the Liberals are no good at politics ... However, after 12 years, Labor's sustained policy failures should count for more than five weeks' incompetent Liberal campaigning. If anything, the fact that spin-driven Labor has shown that it is vastly better at politics is of itself a reason to chuck them out.
In the Telegraph's view, "No way do they deserve another shot."
The Sydney Morning Herald, a broadsheet, characterised the campaign as "undistinguished" and the rival leaders as "lacklustre". Its editorial focussed on Labor's record over the past 12 years: "New South Wales is feeling the effects of ... second-rateism. It languishes near the bottom on the states' economic league table," the paper wrote. The Herald also criticised "the politicisation of the public service" and a state government "addicted to secrecy". "It is, we admit, an uninspiring choice for voters," the Herald concluded, however "We believe the re-election of Labor is simply one risk too many."
The Australian concurred, in an editorial entitled "Both sides have failed in NSW":
On the one hand incumbent Morris Iemma looks likely to fall over the line by running not just against his opponent but, cynically, against his Labor predecessor Bob Carr as well. On the other is Peter Debnam, a man who should be in the box seat but who has been unable to bring excitement, or policy, to the table. This is a tragedy.
The paper called on voters to "suspend their natural suspicion of Mr Debnam and punish the Government," adding that they did so "in the full knowledge that it won't happen".
Polling
 |
||||||||
| Newspoll: Voting Intention | ||||||||
| First preference | Two-party preferred | Preferred premier | ||||||
| Date | Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia... | Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... | National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is... | Greens Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which... | Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia... | Coalition Coalition (Australia) The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922... | Iemma Morris Iemma Morris Iemma , is a former Australian politician and 40th Premier of New South Wales, succeeding Bob Carr after he resigned on 3 August 2005. Iemma led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the 2007 election before resigning as Premier on 5 September 2008, and as a Member of Parliament on 19... | Debnam Peter Debnam Peter John Debnam , is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Vaucluse between 1994 and 2011. Debnam is a former Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney,... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 election New South Wales state election, 2003 Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election... |
42.7% | 24.7% | 9.7% | 8.2% | 56.2% | 43.8% | ||
| Jan-Feb 2007 | 45% | 28% | 5% | 7% | 59% | 41% | 48% | 19% |
| Nov-Dec 2006 | 39% | 32% | 5% | 7% | 53% | 47% | 45% | 23% |
| Sep-Oct 2006 | 41% | 32% | 5% | 7% | 54% | 46% | 45% | 21% |
| Jul-Aug 2006 | 41% | 31% | 5% | 6% | 55% | 45% | 48% | 20% |
| May-Jun 2006 | 38% | 33% | 6% | 7% | 52% | 48% | 42% | 22% |
| Mar-Apr 2006 | 36% | 38% | 6% | 6% | 48% | 52% | 42% | 23% |
| Jan-Feb 2006 | 34% | 36% | 7% | 6% | 49% | 51% | 42% | 22% |
| Nov-Dec 2005 | 34% | 37% | 6% | 7% | 48% | 52% | 40% | 18% |
| Sep-Oct 2005 | 38% | 33% | 5% | 8% | 53% | 47% | 42% | 17% |
Opinion polls conducted in the leadup to the election consistently put Iemma ahead of Debnam as preferred premier. According to Newspoll, as of December 2006, 45% of respondents backed Iemma, while only 23% backed Debnam.
Although the Coalition fared better in polls of voting intention, the Liberals and Nationals consistently trailed Labor. According to Newspoll, the Coalition has not led the ALP since early 2006. Pollster Roy Morgan says that Labor has consistently led the Coalition since Iemma became premier. The most recent Roy Morgan figure showed Labor well ahead, 60.5% to 39.5%, on a two-party-preferred basis.
Given the size of the government's majority - a hangover from the 1999
New South Wales state election, 1999
Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
and 2003
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
landslides - the Coalition needed to perform far better to have had a chance of taking office.