The Liberal campaign slogans were "Back Baird" and "Keep NSW Working". Labor ran on "A New Approach for NSW".
Koalas In January 2015, Labor leader
Luke Foley announced a policy to create a
Great Koala National Park and hold a
koala summit.
Poles and wires Baird sought a mandate to lease 49% of the government's electricity distributors, known locally as the "poles and wires", for 99 years and invest the proceeds in new road, public transport, water, health and education infrastructure. With opposition to the lease forming the centrepiece of Labor's campaign, the election was widely viewed as a
referendum on the proposal. The government's plan involved the lease of 100% of high-voltage distributor
TransGrid and majority stakes in
Ausgrid and
Endeavour Energy, which together cover local distribution in metropolitan NSW. Country-based
Essential Energy was not part of the proposal. The proceeds, estimated at $20 billion, were to be spent on major projects including an extension of the under-construction
North West Rail Link to the city centre and on to
Bankstown. The plan enjoyed support, from business groups, such as the Energy Users' Association, the
Business Council and the
Australian Industry Group; and by transport lobby groups
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and the
Tourism and Transport Forum. In addition, a number of senior Labor figures came out in support, including former Prime Minister
Paul Keating, former NSW Treasurer
Michael Costa, and former federal Resources Minister
Martin Ferguson. Following the election, former Labor Premiers
Bob Carr and
Morris Iemma and former Labor Treasurer
Michael Egan added their voices in support. Full privatisation of poles and wires also had the support of Australia's
Productivity Commission. The plan was opposed by Labor, the Greens, the Shooters & Fishers and a number of unions. The plan also polled poorly and attracted little support on the ABC's
Vote Compass site. Labor's campaign in opposition, supported by the union-funded television, outdoor and direct-mail advertising, rested on three arguments: • that retail prices would rise • that under a partial lease arrangement, the assets would be "gone for good" • that the potential involvement of Chinese investors posed a risk to national security. The party's claims on price increases were debunked by separate reports from
Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
Deloitte Access Economics and the
Grattan Institute. Dr
Tom Parry, formerly the head of NSW's
Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, told
The Australian "all the evidence" was that privatised networks "have much better cost controls ... I don't see why there's any basis to suggest that network charges will go up as a result of privatisation." Some of the most savage criticism came from within the Labor party itself. Keating dismissed the campaign as the work of "some obscurantists". Ferguson went further, saying he was "ashamed of the Party" and accusing Foley and the unions of "deliberately misleading the public, creating unnecessary fear and trying to scare people." Costa, whose own privatisation plan had been rejected by Labor's state conference, slammed "a small, privileged special interest group, the electricity unions" for repeating "lie after desperate lie" on the government's plan. Egan said simply "I would've thought the Labor Party had grown up on that issue." Foley's suggestion that Chinese investment represented a national security risk was dismissed as racist "
dog-whistle politics" by treasurer
Andrew Constance and Egan. Federal
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, himself a former Labor staffer, implored Labor and the unions on Twitter not to "licence xenophobia".
Coal-seam gas Coal-seam gas (CSG) extraction became a major issue, particularly on the fringes of the metropolitan area and in the
Northern Rivers region. When it left office, Labor had awarded CSG licences covering about 60 per cent of the state's land area. The Liberals and Nationals also supported CSG as a means to create regional jobs and prevent an expected increase in domestic natural gas prices. Responding to what was described as "a climate of community unease" about land access and the possibility of environmental damage, the Government asked the state's independent Chief Scientist, Professor
Mary O'Kane, to review the CSG industry in NSW. O'Kane concluded that "the technical challenges and risks posed by the CSG industry can in general be managed", allowing extraction to continue. Nonetheless, the Government had gas firms hand back many of the most contentious outstanding undeveloped licences in Sydney, the Central Coast and the Northern Rivers. Labor promised to go further, simply banning CSG extraction statewide, an approach which would have led to higher natural gas prices, triggered compensation payments to gas investors and, according to the industry, revealed "a stubborn refusal to face the facts" in the light of the O'Kane report. The Greens, who had always opposed CSG, went on to beat Labor into second place on primary votes in two Nationals-held Northern Rivers seats,
Ballina and
Lismore.
Newcastle revitalisation In December 2013, the government had suspended services on the surface-level train line that separates the
Newcastle city centre from the
Hunter River waterfront. The line had long been considered an impediment to the city's development, and the government's plan was to close the line and build a light rail system in its place. Labor, which had advocated for such a plan in government, now led opposition to it.
Health and education Labor criticised alleged cuts to health and education.
Character and experience Labor attacked Baird for his former career in banking and his friendship with prime minister
Tony Abbott, whose electorate of
Warringah overlaps Baird's seat of
Manly. At the time of the election, Abbott was polling poorly. In an echo of the Liberals'
successful 2004 campaign against then Opposition Leader
Mark Latham, the Government branded Foley an '
L-plate' leader on the basis of his lack of ministerial and leadership experience.
Incidents Baird's
campaign bus was attacked by
graffiti vandals during an overnight stop in Katoomba. Foley later joked on radio: “Fancy leaving your bus out overnight in Katoomba, unguarded. You’re asking for trouble. I’m surprised there are still wheels." Foley's comments drew criticism from both
Blue Mountains MP
Roza Sage and the local Chamber of Commerce. On 26 March, a 20-year-old Liberal campaign volunteer in
Cabramatta was allegedly struck by a Labor volunteer during an altercation outside a pre-poll centre. A video of the incident was captured by the alleged victim on her mobile phone. Police were reportedly investigating the incident.
East Hills Labor candidate
Cameron Murphy alleged he had been the victim of a dirty tricks campaign, involving leaflets and stickers branding the
civil libertarian as a "
paedophile lover" because of his work as president of the
NSW Council for Civil Liberties. East Hills, held by Labor continuously from 1953 to 2011, was won in 2011 by Liberal
Glenn Brookes with a margin of 0.2 points (adjusting for boundary changes in 2013). Murphy told the press he had lodged a complaint with the Electoral Commission and was seeking legal advice. The newly registered No Land Tax Party fielded candidates in all 93 electoral districts, thus maximising their chances of receiving public funding. Party leader Peter Jones conceded he had not met half of the candidates, many of whom did not live in the districts they hoped to represent. In
Bega, held by Treasurer
Andrew Constance for the Liberals, reports surfaced during the campaign that No Land Tax candidate Clyde Archard had in fact died in
Borneo as a
prisoner of war in 1945. He nonetheless received 2.3 per cent of the vote.
Newspaper endorsements In the final week of the campaign, the Liberals and Nationals received the endorsement of the main daily and Sunday newspapers in the state:
The Australian,
The Australian Financial Review,
The Daily Telegraph,
The Sunday Telegraph,
The Sun-Herald and
The Sydney Morning Herald.
Election night Election night coverage was provided by the
ABC,
Seven,
Nine and
Sky News Australia. Collectively, the three free-to-air programs had 371,000 viewers in the Sydney market. Labor supporters gathered at Dooley's Catholic Club in
Lidcombe. Foley conceded defeat at 9.20 pm, saying "a majority of voters have decided that now is too soon for Labor to return to government." Liberal supporters gathered at Sydney's
Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, where Baird claimed victory at 9.45 pm. "The reason I love this state is because of its people," Baird told the crowd, "And tonight they have chosen hope over fear." ==Aftermath==