NSW 2011 Election wrap

It was an expected success for the Liberal Party and the Nationals. The success came to pass, with an enormous swing against the ALP. It looks as if Smithfield is a Liberal gain. It is disappointing to report Fairfield and Cabramatta will return to the ALP.

As successful as the conservative campaign has been, it is time to examine what may have been mistakes or weaknesses and assess the challenge ahead.

Personally, I have an interest in the issue of Justice for Hamidur Rahman. The issue touches on corruption, pedophilia and abuse of power by the ALP and mainstream media. The ALP have obstructed numerous inquiries, aided by the media, but the Liberal party have been largely silent on the issue to date too. That silence cannot continue if the conservatives wish to claim they represent the whole state and respect transparency of process.

The conservatives have to spend a lot of money to get the state back on track. They must resist the temptation to pork barrel the funds as the ALP did to the detriment of state infrastructure. Roads, rail, water, electricity, policing, health, education, sanitation, local government, planning, corruption watchdogs and the courts all need an overhaul. They need to move quickly. They need to exercise patience.

If they are brave and confident without being brazen they can hold their gains and extend them.

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Holding the gains and extending them won't be easy. It means that the ALP will not learn from their defeat and will continue to embrace corruption as a means for maintaining power. While that is what happened when the ALP were out of office in the late 90's when Hawke and Keating gave approval to maintain the corruption, that might not be their collective choice this time around. But the conservative agenda is not set by the ALP.

In the past the conservatives have not fought issues so as to not cloud the public mind when facing election. This is wisdom, as not all battles are won, or can be won. The result is the ALP can be slippery with the truth when they campaign. For example Mr Howard promotes nuclear energy as a solution to providing energy without building up carbon dioxide through coal energy production. That doesn't mean Mr Howard is captured by the AGW lobby as the ALP have claimed. But there is no value in fighting an election on what Mr Howard believes.

The idea of choosing battle gets difficult for me with the issue of Hamidur Rahman. He died in 2002 and so there is the danger that some may feel that things have moved on even though I am still prevented from having work by corrupt means. The pedophile issue which seems to have claimed Hamidur's life is still extant. I must prosecute the issue to its conclusion if I wish to live, but that might not help the conservatives, but might hinder the conservatives as the issue might be exploited by the ALP. It is explosive that the ALP have benefited from pedophilia allegations so as to not have it appear that the issue was being used to exploit them.

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Charbel Saliba and Dai Le ran clean campaigns and this will boost the chances of any conservative who follows them if they continue that policy. ALP's Lalich and Zangari looked ugly at times in using their old levers of corruption, from exploiting local council for personal gain to probably illegal letterdrops which attacked their opponents. In the past corruption watchdogs have turned a blind eye to corrupt ALP behavior. The ALP's recent appointment of Tembe (and his acceptance) was an example of corruption .. and a likely threat to the future conservative administration.