ONE becomes accustomed to waiting in Newcastle.
It seems our political circumstances result in waiting. Waiting for change, waiting for infrastructure, waiting for studies. Very fast train study, anyone? How late are the new inter-city train carriages running at old speeds on old tracks?
In recent elections, many voters in the lower Hunter have steered toward Labor at all three levels of government. There are exceptions, but generally it's a Labor love-in.
Only ongoing self-inflicted Labor calamity will see that radically alter, as it did in the 2011 NSW state election. The Coalition almost doubled its seat numbers in the legislative assembly from 35 to 69, while Labor more than halved its seats from 52 to 20.
The 2011 Liberal win in Newcastle was described by ABC election analyst Antony Green as a 'political earthquake'. The Liberals' strength in first preferences indicated even rusted-on Labor voters were flipping the bird - Labor polled 30.6 per cent while the Liberals won 36.7 per cent. In 2007, it had been just 9.7 per cent for the Liberals. That was a seismic shift away from Labor in four years.
The newly elected NSW state government holds 45 of the 93 seats in the legislative assembly. Premier Minns has said repeatedly that while Labor will gladly accept crossbench support, "there will be no horse-trading". Time will tell.
The Minns government will need to be well disciplined - both individually and collectively - to go to the 2027 election with 45 seats still intact.
And while it is incumbent that state Labor now get on with fulfilling promises made during the campaign, some reflection on why they were so severely savaged in 2011 might assist in not repeating the in-your-face hubris of that unique cowboy outfit resembling a 21st century Rum Corps.
That was a government which admitted it had ignored voters' needs and lost sight of their wishes. Promises around much infrastructure remained unfulfilled. It excelled in ongoing scandals and suspected (and later proven) deals between mates, and its factional warlords exercised power like characters from the Sopranos.
Labor HQ was directing policy and dominated wherever it could, while simultaneously viewing the rank-and-file merely as useful idiots for fund-raising and handing out how-to-vote pamphlets on election day. It demonstrated arrogant cynicism by sitting Treasurer Eric Roozendahl atop the upper house ticket.
That Labor government kicked-off the privatisation of the state's electrical assets just 12 weeks before the election; and it provided 22 ministerial and other resignations in the year leading up to the election.
That's way more ingredients than needed to bake a momentous electoral thumping.
This government has five ministers (out of a total of 22, half of whom are women) from the Hunter in the NSW Cabinet. While that should bode well for the Hunter, it certainly sets up big expectations that Hunter Ministers not only serve their portfolios well, but also be in box seats to deliver to their electorates.
How will the pie be divided in the Hunter on the big spends?
While the Hunter is a handy term for geographical proximity, the needs and wants in those electorates are significantly different. Even within electorates, there can be massive disparities between suburbs just a couple of kilometres apart.
Cooks Hill topped a list for an increase in poverty in a report commissioned by the New South Wales Council of Social Services (NCOSS) released last week. Using data from the last two censuses, the report found the 12.6-point jump in Cooks Hill was the biggest poverty increase in the greater Sydney area between 2016-2021.
The state ALP says it will prioritise health and education. But housing surely must be prioritised, especially as NSW will likely become home to many of those who arrive in Australia under the ambitious migration targets of the federal ALP. Today is as much mayday as it is May Day.
I was surprised to go to the Housing Affordability Policy website of NSW Labor (https://www.nswlabor.org.au/housing_affordability_policy) on the weekend to find the heading "Housing Affordability Policy" content cupboard totally barren. Nada. Nothing.
Empty as Satan's heart.
Hunter priorities?
To borrow and change a much maligned, out-of-context quote from former British PM Margaret Thatcher: "You know, there is no such thing as the Hunter. There are individual men and women, and there are families." And there are electorates.
Priority decisions should not be made to punish electorates who did not vote for the elected government, nor to disproportionately reward those who did, or those who live in marginal seats. And so, the waiting for big ideas to turn into Hunter's big-ticket items begins.
Expectations are high.
