New South Wales Treasurer Michael Costa has told Labor MPs that their electorates will be starved of funding unless they support the Iemma Government’s bid to privatise the power industry. Government ministers have also been trying to lure backbenchers who are committed to opposing the sale with suggestions they may be promoted to the cabinet if they fall into line.

The failures of the New South Wales Government cannot simply be blamed on the inept leadership of Morris Iemma; it begins much earlier. NSW Labor trains its young members to have a complete disregard for public policy from the day they join.