Mark Latham in the upper house? A Coalition minority government? The NSW election is nearly upon us, and it’s going to be a wild ride.
It's worth keeping an eye on the NSW election outcome. It may end up telling us a lot about how global political themes, like the erosion of centrist politics, are playing out here in Australia.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is known to Melburnians simply as the ‘G and is host to a range of sports including Australian Football League and soccer, as well as other events.
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The main sporting venues in Australian capitals have had an upgrade in recent times, with the notable exception of Sydney, where leaders seem mired in indecision and political bickering.
A public backlash against council amalgamations appears to have forced the NSW government to shift its position.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The proposed amalgamation of 40 NSW councils has generated heated opposition. While public resistance has now won out in several regional communities, it's a different story in the city.
Gladys Berejiklian was elected unopposed to lead the NSW Liberal Party and become the state’s next premier.
AAP/David Moir
Gladys Berejiklian becomes NSW premier with a great deal of experience, but she needs to overcome several problems – internal and external – to arrest sliding polls.
Mike Baird is to resign as NSW premier and retire as a state MP.
AAP/Paul Miller
Mike Baird is the fifth New South Wales premier in ten years, and only one of them lost their job to an election. There's little time, it seems, to learn and grow as a political leader.
Some homeless youth facing criminal charges in NSW are being accommodated in prisons.
Adrian Fallace/flikr
Homeless children charged in NSW with a criminal offence who are unable to meet bail conditions are being kept in custody. It's due, in part, to a well-meant but flawed section of the Bail Act.
Mike Baird has announced a backdown on NSW’s greyhound racing ban.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
Mike Baird's political leadership style is evangelical – and it has landed him in hot water.
The historical, social and moral reasons for retaining the Sirius Building for public housing are compelling, but the state government is focused on the money from its sale.
Jenny Noyes/Newzulu/AAP
The state is ignoring historical, social and moral reasons to keep public housing in Heritage areas of Sydney. Its sell-off will further divide the city between rich and poor and end a rich history.
Former police minister Mike Gallacher is one of a number of current and former MPs to be caught up in Operation Spicer.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Evidence suggests early intervention to improve educational opportunities for low-income kids yields impressive long term results -- but we need to use better evaluation methods to know what works.
Are NSW citizens adequately engaged in the policymaking process?
AAP/Joel Carrett
Good governance is the right thing to do, and boosts the legitimacy of decision-making. If moral chivalry doesn't appeal, here are two more reasons: it's cost-efficient and delivers better solutions.
Long before the election was called, Labor leader Bill Shorten was in Eden-Monaro talking about the cost of living.
Andrew Taylor/AAP
Superannuation, health and child care are among the issues that are likely to matter most to voters in the bellwether NSW seats of Eden-Monaro, Robertson and Lindsay.
A bill that would give courts in NSW the power to restrict offenders departs from existing regimes in many striking ways.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Imposing significant restrictions on the liberty of a person found not guilty subverts the ordinary criminal justice process.
When public housing like the properties in Sydney’s Millers Point is privatised, it profoundly changes the social mix of the inner city to something much more homogenous.
AAP/Newzulu/Peter Boyle
The NSW government agenda would deny the 'right to the city', that network of diverse communities, practices and places which give rise to the convivial and inclusive potential of cities.
The Knitting Nannas Against Gas could be caught up in a push by the NSW government to criminalise legitimate protest.
AAP/Tony Markham
It isn’t just the 'bad guys' who are exposed to restrictive powers and tougher penalties. Anyone whose behaviour is regarded as a public safety risk is potentially in the frame.
Those opposed to forced municipal mergers have reason to be sceptical of NSW Premier Mike Baird’s promises that it will improve councils’ performance.
AAP/Paul Miller
If forced amalgamations proceed, we may well see hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer and ratepayer funds squandered simply because policymakers preferred dogma to empirical evidence.
The NSW Electoral Commission’s withholding of public funding to the NSW Liberal Party may yet again imperil Arthur Sinodinos.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
Without the public mobilising over inequalities that are so ingrained in its psyche, Sydney is unlikely to see its nightlife reflect true social inclusion and diversity.
Motorists in New South Wales must now keep a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists.
AAP/Richard Milnes
