The People's Mandate 

 

By Dino Cesta - 30 March 2015

NEWCASTLE HERALD & OBELISK INSIGHT 

 

(Edited version published in the Newcastle Herald 'Back on track after ballot') 

 

NSW Labor’s resounding victories in the electorates of Newcastle, Charlestown, Wallsend, Swansea, Maitland, and Port Stephens is clearly a repudiation of the newly elected Baird Government when it comes to two of the central issues of the election campaign in our region - reinstating the Newcastle rail line, and the ICAC corruption allegations against now former Liberal parliamentarians.

 

On the key issue of rail truncation, Premier Baird, Transport Minister Berejiklian, and Planning Minister Goward failed to heed the will of the overwhelming majority of people in our region.

 

In an opinion piece in the Newcastle Herald on 23 January 2015 headed ‘Silent majority must speak and be heard’, Goward stated ‘It would have been especially easy if we were to accept the loud shouts of a few as the voice of the many.’

 

Based on the electorate results across our region, and in light of Goward’s comments making the Newcastle election results a referedum on the rail issue, the Baird Government does not have the mandate to truncate the Newcastle rail.

 

The propaganda war campaign perpetrated by the ‘vocal minority’ supporters of rail truncation, and unashamedly fueled by Macquarie Street against the ‘silent majority’, failed to deceive the voters across our region.

 

Shortly after claiming victory on Saturday evening, Premier Baird tweeted “Thank you, NSW... We will work with you, every day, for the next 4 years.“ Let’s hope the Premier stays true to his word, and commits to genuinely listening to what the majority of people believe is best for its region - the revitalisation of Newcastle, but with the rail line reopened.  

To start to mend and regain the respect, trust, and credibility of people across the broader Newcastle and Hunter regions, Baird’s first act as Premier must be to reinstate the rail line.