There’s a lot of talk about broken infrastructure in NSW – and it’s all true.
But the key piece of public infrastructure that is broken in NSW is the Government itself.
As I move around the State people keep saying to me and Deborah how
they have lost faith in the integrity of Government in NSW and have
lost faith in public services.
A Government can only operate when they enjoy the trust of the
community. In NSW this relationship of trust has completely broken
down.
We need to re-establish trust in NSW between the community and the Government that seeks to serve the community.
And you can’t do this by walking from your record and failing to be
up front with the people of NSW as Labor is doing in this election
campaign.
The Premier seriously expects the people of NSW to forget that Labor
has been running this state for the past twelve years, simply because
he has. Yet the Premier has been an integral part of the Labor
Government for twelve years.
In 1995 Bob Carr made Morris Iemma a Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister for Industrial Relations. In 1997 Bob Carr appointed Morris
Iemma as his own Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier – his closest
parliamentary adviser.
In 1999 Bob Carr made Morris Iemma the Minister for Public Works and
Services and in 2003 Bob Carr made Morris Iemma Minister for Health.
Morris Iemma was there when Bob Carr broke his promises to resign if
he did not halve waiting lists and axe the tolls. He was there when
hospital waiting lists went to record levels. He was there through the
Millennium Train debacle and when the Cross City Tunnel contract was
signed. He was there when the Vendor Tax was introduced and the Land
Tax threshold abolished. And he was there when riots broke out in
Redfern, Macquarie Fields, Dubbo and Cronulla. And he’s still there
defending Labor’s softly softly approach to policing.
By contrast I want to restore integrity to Government. My Ministers
will be put on performance pay – if they fail to deliver on their
targets they will not be paid their full salary. My Ministers will also
work 5 days a year in the front line of service delivery in their
portfolios.
And unlike the Premier, I will have no problem standing side by side
with my Ministers. Joe Tripodi, Frank Sartor and Michael Costa were as
invisible as the Premier’s mentors Graham Richardson and Bob Carr at
Labor’s launch last Sunday. I suppose Bob Carr is right when he says
Morris Iemma will do ‘whatever it takes’ to win this election. No
wonder this Labor Government has a problem with integrity in the minds
of the people of NSW.
It takes more than one person to run NSW - it takes a team. And my Liberal/Nationals team is ready to fix NSW.
Regards,
Peter Debnam
PS. I notice that the Premier indicated in yesterday’s blog that
Labor may now be building a 500ML a day desalination plant at Kurnell.
This would make it the biggest desalination plant on the planet. If
this is Labor’s plan – then the Premier should be telling the people of
the Sutherland Shire now.
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