NSW now a FAILED STATE

Probably we would be worse off under a Liberal govt. but how much worse could they be to what we have now?

Iemma continues to be an embarrassment to the Rudd federal govt.

from SMH

NSW is a worse place since the re-election of the Iemma government 12 months ago, Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell and Greens MP Lee Rhiannon say.

Mr O'Farrell told reporters on Monday - the anniversary of the election - the problems facing the state had got worse since the election of the Iemma government.

"Twelve months since Morris Iemma stood up and said, 'Get on and fix the problems of NSW', 12 months on, the problems across the board are worse," he told reporters.

"And the state's biggest problem is the lack of energy that Morris Iemma brings to the job of premier of NSW.

"This is a bloke who has fundamentally let down those who re-elected him a year ago because, whether it's hospitals, community services or transport, everything has got worse," he said.

Ms Rhiannon echoed Mr O'Farrell's comments, telling AAP it was time the premier realised being that being a "pleasant family man is not enough".

"The public are entitled to be angry with the Iemma government. The majority of voters backed them at the last election but once in power Premier Iemma and his ministers have failed to deliver decent public services," she said.

"Premier Iemma's first year in office has been marked by incompetency and deception. Public services continue to be under-resourced.

"If the Labor government wants to be able to celebrate another year in office they should stop running on Liberal policies. Electricity privatisation was not part of Labor's 2007 election platform. The premier should show some backbone, scrap the sell-off policy and stand up to his treasurer Michael Costa," she said.

Mr Iemma was not available for comment on Monday, but said on Sunday he believed his government had made progress in the past year.

He told ABC Radio the government had made plans for the new North West Metro in Sydney, established specialist trade schools and opened more after-hour GP clinics.

"The public want us to work harder and they want better," he said.

"That's what I'm about and that's what we're working hard to do."

Mr Iemma said he understood why people had lost faith in his government.

"I can understand the cynicism and that response but I say, 'Well, is that reason not to do anything? Is that a reason not to do the metro?' No, it's not," he said.

"It just redoubles the determination to make sure that it happens because it has to happen for the city's future."

It's been a damaging year for the state government, which has been plagued by scandal since its return to office on March 24, 2007.

Less than a month into his second term as premier, Mr Iemma was forced to dump prospective sport and recreation minister Paul Gibson from cabinet, following allegations of domestic violence against his former lover Sandra Nori. Lack of evidence from a police investigation later cleared Mr Gibson.

October 2007 proved just as tough, with the government setting up an inquiry into Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital after Jana Horska had miscarried in the hospital's emergency department toilet the previous month.

In November, the government was forced to set up an inquiry into the Department of Community Services (DoCS) following the deaths of a number of children under its care, including seven-year-old Shellay Ward and two-year-old Dean Shillingsworth.

Shellay was found in her Hawks Nest home, north of Newcastle, weighing just 9kg at the time of her death. Dean was found stuffed in a suitcase floating in a pond in Sydney's south-west.

The health care crisis flared up once again in January 2008 with a state-wide inquiry into NSW hospitals set up after "systemic problems" were blamed for the death of schoolgirl Vanessa Anderson at Royal North Shore Hospital.

Also in January, the controversial T-card project - an integrated ticketing system for Sydney's transport system - had to be cancelled, after costing taxpayers $95 million.

Last month, the Wollongong council 'sex-for-development' scandal rocked the government. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation showed a corrupt official had links to several Labor ministers and MPs.

© 2008 AAP

http://lee.greens.org.au/?PHPSESSID=e35b36b9244505ecdfc752810dc97451