Much of the Illawarra was at one time rusted on to the Labor party, given that it was / is a steel town with a predominantly blue collar workforce. On the other side of politics sit the Liberals who are, despite the name, the local conservative party.

The Liberals are supposedly the party of businesses small and large. Though in the case of small businesses with limited donating power, whether reality matches perception is another matter. However the owners of Thirroul Plaza have bought into that perception and always seem happy to allow the Liberal candidate advertising space during elections. As we see here, the state government Liberal candidate was allocated space in the prime location just near the public toilets, as he is each election. I make no comment about the juxtaposition.

And just as with every previous year, his sign there was vandalised. In this case it was a reaction to the Liberal government's supposedly hard line on refugees except... that's a federal issue, not a state one. The amount of power that the state of NSW or its Liberal government has over this matter is equivalent to the amount of power that I have over NATO, so in terms of valid criticism... this isn't one.

This does not mean that I regard this guy as being any the less a numb nuts. When his backside was handed to him he claimed that it was because the electorate fell for a scare campaign about the state government's intention to sell electricity infrastructure in order to fund new projects. Yeah, because government asset sales have always worked so well for us in the past.

Some other things. First, as I mentioned this is, for the moment, a steel town. Which means that it's a rust belt waiting to happen. That means that the area needs to reskill at a time when the NSW government is eviscerating the technical and further education (trades) training services, increasing fees for them, cutting back their accessibility all while their federal colleagues want to send university education down the same path as the U.S. where you only get a degree if mommy and daddy are very rich or you have a 6 figure debt slung around your neck for the next 30 years. There are other issues as well, but for a past, present and most likely future candidate to suggest that the only reason he didn't win is because his electorate is stupid rather than concerned about real issues probably doesn't auger well for his chances in the future.

The Labor party was never going to win government back in NSW this election. The stench from its previous term in office still resonates across the state, and while the local rag always edits this comment I'm free to make it here... people from that government need to go to jail. They were found corrupt by our corruption commission, and they need to have their assets stripped and to do serious time. And they haven't. Also, the people who are left over from that government and are still clinging to the sinecure of their parliamentary seats (with associated salaries and pension plans) need to fall on their sword so that the stench can be expunged. But they haven't.

But regardless of that one thing's for certain... as long as the Liberals keep running Clifford in that seat, their chance of winning it is, in my opinion, about the same as my chance of being the next President of the United States of 'Murica.

Last Year