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Backdown politics top of Gladys Berejiklian's to-do list

Sean Nicholls

The day before she was elected Liberal leader and sworn in as NSW Premier, some of Gladys Berejiklian's most trusted advisers gathered to consider a list.

On it were policies that had caused the then Baird government the greatest amount of political pain in the previous 12 months – a period during which the premier's personal popularity had plummeted.

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Gladys Berejiklian's priorities as Premier

Gladys Berejiklian has made clear her plans as NSW's 45th Premier – but can she pull them off?

The question at hand was whether to dump or significantly amend the policies to neutralise anger in the electorate and give a Berejiklian-led government a fresh start.

The No.1 item was council amalgamations.

Less than two weeks later the new premier is seriously considering moving on the issue by handing angry residents the opportunity to vote on mergers via plebiscites.

Like Baird's spectacular policy reversal over his bid to shut down the greyhound racing industry in NSW, Berejiklian is embracing the virtues of the political backflip.

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She will be hoping for the same result on amalgamations that Baird's decision produced on greyhounds: an end to the campaigning that has led to accusations that the government is arrogant, out of touch and dictatorial.

That Berejiklian is considering a backdown should not come as a great surprise.

Three days before she was sworn in and the day after Baird announced his retirement from politics, the new Nationals leader John Barilaro issued an extraordinary media release.

"Leader of the NSW Nationals and Member for Monaro, John Barilaro, today vowed to bring an end to local government mergers in the bush," it declared.

"Mr Barilaro said he was looking forward to working with the new premier but it was time to draw a line in the sand over council amalgamations."

The statement showed Barilaro is happy to use megaphone diplomacy within the Coalition to get results.

It's quite a shift from the approach of his predecessor Troy Grant, but Barilaro has a pretty big incentive.

After losing the safe seat of Orange in last year's byelection to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party – in which council mergers were identified as a major factor – the Nationals are justifiably terrified about the rise of minor parties.

That's especially the case with Pauline Hanson on the march and eyeing off the 2019 NSW election.

It's Berejiklian's problem, too, because if the Nationals are massacred in regional seats in 2019, so are the Coalition's chances of re-election.

Thanks to Baird's departure and Jillian Skinner's decision to quit Parliament the government faces byelections in the seats of Manly and North Shore, where independents have previously flourished and council mergers are an issue.

But more broadly, Berejiklian's own words set the scene for what is emerging as a very different government to that headed by Baird, a merchant banker impatient to secure major reforms as his legacy.

Since becoming premier she has repeated a key phrase. It declares her government is listening, will govern for all and that everyone in NSW deserves to benefit from the strong economy.

It's precisely the opposite of arrogant, out of touch and dictatorial.

Berejiklian clearly does not want to be seen to be a do-nothing premier keeping her head down until the next election, which is why she has delivered the spin that in local infrastructure she wants to "go harder".

Worse, she doesn't want to be branded, like Malcolm Turnbull has been, as a leader who not only does nothing, but is too politically timid to take difficult decisions. What is the point of that?

After all, Baird and his ministers spent months – and large amounts of the public's money – arguing the case for mergers, talking up how they would benefit communities across NSW and driving some through.

Backing down plays both ways: the government can genuinely claim it is listening to the electorate and reap the rewards; but it also emboldens opponents of other unpopular policies and risks her looking like a leader willing to junk good policy if it wins a few votes.

The jury remains out on Berejiklian only a fortnight into her premiership but it's clear that the era of bold, Baird-style crash or crash through government in NSW is over, for the time being at least.

The question for her remains: what is she prepared to offer the electorate in its place?

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