Page 1348 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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need to ensure that we are on good terms not only with the surrounding New South Wales councils and the surrounding New South Wales state members of parliament but also with the New South Wales government itself.
I have to say that, as of the election on 26 March, dealing with the cross-border issues should be much easier, dealing with an O’Farrell-led coalition government in New South Wales. The overwhelming electoral success of the New South Wales Liberals and Nationals showed that the New South Wales government under Labor simply was not functioning. It simply was not delivering what the people of New South Wales had expected it to do and had elected it to do.
I think we in the territory will be beneficiaries of the professionalism that will come about as a result of the decision made by the electors of New South Wales in the 93 electorates which returned some 70-odd members of the coalition, 70-odd members in a new government led by Barry O’Farrell and Andrew Stoner.
When comparing the form of this incoming Liberal government to what has been, it is important to note some of the milestones which have marked the last four terms of Labor in New South Wales. In particular, it is worth noting the issues which have dogged the New South Wales government just in the last term alone, between 2007 and 2011.
Since New South Wales Labor were elected in 1995, we have seen many ministers come and go and many chief ministers come and go. In fact, I imagine Jon Stanhope sitting there with a New South Wales premier would be a bit like speed dating, with a new one popping up every few months for Jon to get to know. Then, sure enough, they are booted out and Jon has to reintroduce himself and do a bit more of the territory’s bidding, trying to get a better deal for ACT health, ACT transport and the many other issues which are of key importance when it comes to cross-border relations. Going back to the issues since the March 2007 election, it is important that we get them documented, even in this place, so that we are ever vigilant not to allow such a thing to ever dog us here in the territory.
Let us remember back to April 2007, when Paul Gibson was dropped from Morris Iemma’s proposed ministry after a domestic violence allegation. The police investigated, but they did not end up laying charges. In December 2007 Phil Koperberg stepped down and he was later reinstated in January 2008. In March 2008 the then former Aboriginal affairs minister, Milton Orkopoulos, was convicted of child sex and drug supply offences. He was sacked in November of 2006 and retired as an MP just before the 2007 election. In March 2008 the government sacked the Wollongong City Council and had to appoint administrators after ICAC said there was systemic corruption, including that several Labor councillors had had an improper relationship with a developer.
Then in June 2008 of course we had Iguana-gate. Wasn’t that a great moment in Australian political history! It kept many papers in business for a few weeks. That was of course when staff at the Iguanas waterfront restaurant in Gosford alleged that they were sworn at by the then education minister John Della Bosca and his wife, the former Labor MP Belinda Neal; that is of course before she was dumped at
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