No respite for state Labor in New South Wales so far as Newspoll is concerned, the regular bi-monthly result for July-August being unchanged on May-June at 61-39 to the Coalition. The Coalition is up two points on the primary vote to 49%, with Labor steady on 28% and the Greens down two to 10%. For some reason, both leaders have made solid gains on their approval ratings, Barry O’Farrell’s up five points to 46% and John Robertson’s up six to 34%, while their respective disapproval ratings are up one to 38% and steady on 35%. O’Farrell’s lead as preferred premier has nudged from 51-18 to 52-22. Full tables courtesy of GhostWhoVotes.
In other New South Wales state electoral news, a by-election for the southern Sydney seat of Miranda will be held on October 19, and it offers the increasingly rare treat of being contested by both Labor and Liberal. You can read all about it here.
From main thread
NSW Labor needs to put in its leadership ballot of members only no caucus.
This will restore a level of trust to bring NSW Labor out of the morass its in.
Linda Birney would be excellent as one of her strengths is a public perception of integrity
Little Known abbotts Port Scheme
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbotts-asylum-seeker-transit-plan-raises-suspicions-in-jakarta-20130922-2u81g.html
Labor now faces two large dangers here, both long term. The first is the lack of action on any federal intervention and/or state branch reform, following the departure of Dastyari to the Senate. In Qld it was not only Fitzgerald that got Labor back into power. It was the 1980s efforts of Beattie and Swan to reform the party, notably ending the “Old Guard” faction hold on it. Labor will not be reelected in NSW in the time of office of many incumbents.
The second danger is O’Farrell. He may be no genius, but if Barry actually gets done the things he promises, and fixes some of Sydney’s woes, he will have enough goodwill for three elections. Aside from a few liabilities like Goward, he shows every sign of doing this.
Remarkable result to still be in the 60-40 range this far out from the election and as the next one approaches in 18 months.
I guess the Liberal Party needs to be very thankful of the ALP internals keeping Robertson rather than someone like McDonald or Burney.
Yes, O’Farrell is set for quite a few terms as premier (if he wants to stick around for another decade or so of course).
He really is a moderate, and that’s exactly what the people of NSW want, I think, and he (or the NSW Libs) have managed to keep a lid on their wacko religious wing.
Personally, if the NSW Libs moved to be a bit more environmentally benign I would almost be happy with the current NSW Lib government.
And it is interesting to see just how badly the ALP burnt its own standing. I had thought (and I imagine the brains trust in the ALP thought) that there would be some timeframe in which the worst of the ALP’s transgressions would be forgotten – it’s looking like the people of NSW aren’t in the mood to forget anything for a long time to come.
Memo to the ALP: if your MPs are out of control and your leadership dysfunctional and corrupt, you have to sort it out before it becomes a serious problem.
And most importantly, will disparaging Uncle Rupert and urging people not to buy his papers become an offence?
Go Barry!
Labor is making no impact in NSW. The only visibility that Labor has at the moment is the ongoing ICAC saga, and tha’s got a while to run, with trials likely to follow, going up to and beyond the next election date. Opposition Leader John Robertson is almost invisible. I doubt that a vox pop on the Streets of Sydney or elsewhere in NSW would find many people who could name the leader of the NSW Opposition. Barry O’Farrell has been a reasonably good Premier – he hasn’t frightened anyone and has made no major mistakes. As Jackol points out, he’s a moderate, which was a characteristic of the previous Liberal governments in NSW, unlike the Federal Liberals where the hard right dominates. The one upsetting thing the O’Farrell Government has done is bend to the Shooters, Fishers and Crackpots parties to allow guns in some National Parks in exchange for having electricity privatisation passed.
Uncle Rupert treats his readers like idiots who need to be told what to think. Why pay for political propaganda, even if it’s pushing your side?
Get rid of MacDonald the carpetbagger now
McDonald (Andrew) not Macdonald (Ian) who has not been in the parliament ,or the party for that matter, for some years.