The thing about scoring a new state premier is that the general public isn’t usually quite across what they’re all about. On a federal level we generally know what’s going on. We knew what Turnbull’s deal was. We definitely knew what Abbott‘s deal was. But much of New South Wales is probably scratching their head and wondering what Gladys Berejiklian will be all about.
Berejiklian, prior to being unanimously elected as the new Premier by the Liberal partyroom, has been the member for Willoughby since 2003, and Treasurer since 2015. She’s Armenian-Australian, and her parents were orphaned by the Armenian Genocide. She spoke only Armenian until she was five years old.
Despite her role as NSW Treasurer, Berejiklian is perhaps best known in New South Wales for her substantial work as Transport Minister. NSW’s massive influx of transport projects since Barry O’Farrell‘s tenure were largely run by Gladys – including the Opal card and the eternally controversial Westconnex.
So what do we know about Gladys’ stances?
TRANSPORT
As we said, transport is a huge area of interest for Gladys, and as Premier she’ll be shepherding a lot of the projects begun by her and her successor Andrew Constance as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.
WestConnex, which has caused a great deal of annoyance to environmentalists, public transport advocates and a lot of people living in inner-city Sydney but is generally desired by drivers out west, is without question a pet project for Gladys. Don’t expect a backdown on that one.
Many of the extensive light rail and metro projects around Sydney were rubber-stamped during her tenure as Transport Minister.
LOCKOUTS
Yes, we know that’s what you care about. The Facebook comments on our post about Baird’s resignation were singularly united on that front – even though the lockouts were Barry O’Farrell’s initiative initially. Well, bad news: we’ve got no idea.
Even when she was deputy leader, it wasn’t something she ever talked about. As much as it’d be lovely to see a brand new approach, I doubt we will in the near future – Baird’s slight relaxation of the terms of the lockouts notwithstanding. Keep fighting for your right to party.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
One of the big and divisive issues in NSW is council amalgamations. In fact, it’s a huge, bubbling issue. Lots of the media went absolutely wild about the cratering popularity of the Coalition in regional seats and blamed it solely on greyhounds, but that’s only part of the story. The council amalgamations, where several smaller councils are united into one big megacouncil. Lots of people hate it.
Well, Berejiklian hasn’t staked her position on it. Given that the Nationals have said they will no longer support amalgamations in regional areas, and several municipalities are fighting the process tooth and nail in court, Gladys will have to do something about it, quickly. Bairdy has left a mess for Gladys to clean up.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Don’t get too excited, ‘cos Berejiklian isn’t a federal pollie, but she does support same-sex marriage, and made a statement to that effect back in 2015 to the North Shore Times:
I get a sense that as far as my electorate’s concerned that the majority — while I do know there are people who don’t support it and I want to acknowledge they’ve got a right to express those views — I would think the silent majority would support it, I personally do.
Mike Baird didn’t support same-sex marriage, so there’s a plus.
REFUGEES
Baird, like his father Bruce Baird – who once occupied the seat now held by Scott Morrison – was curiously progressive on refugees and asylum seekers for a Liberal. He offered free transport for refugees in New South Wales, and pled for the federal government to do more to respond to the crisis.
Berejiklian looks to continue a generally pro-refugee stance – which won’t do much for our federal detention regime, but certainly flags her approach to resettlement and so on.
“I’m a fan of making sure our community grows and that we are always compassionate and remember our place in the world,” she said. “We are a lucky country and it’s about making sure we are compassionate for people in desperate need of a home.”
This is what we know right now. Given the enormous turnover over NSW premiers – no one has served a full term since Bob Carr – we’ll have to see if Berejiklian can break the curse.
Photo: Facebook / Mike Baird.
