New leadership in NSW, will that make any difference?

The new NSW Premier Nathan Rees has announced his ministry. Some of the main figures who have been demoted include Michael Costa, Reba Meagher and Frank Sartor. The big winners were Eric Roozendaal (Treasurer), Carmel Tebbutt and (unfortunately) Joe Tripodi.

http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/09/08/Portfolios_under_wraps_but_the_soap_opera_is_over_Rees

These selections show that whilst some of the unpopular members of the previous government no longer have a role, the NSW Right still has significant power. Why on earth has Joe Tripodi been given a major promotion? He's widely regarded as dead wood with no ability and a factional hack. Even Frank Sartor would've been better than him.

On the other hand, I see the promotions of Carmel Tebbutt and Verity Firth as positive.

Will these changes make any positive difference? We'll just have to wait and see but I'm not holding my breath.

The Liberal Opposition have been performing fairly well this year, in my opinion. Let's hope that they can continue to make improvements and keep the pressure on the Government for the betterment of NSW.

Swan rightly criticised for Pension stance; Coalition hypocritical

Treasurer Wayne Swan has admitted that he could not survive on the pension. That has brought criticism from the Opposition, who has criticised Mr Swan for refusing to rule out an increase in the pension until a Treasury review into the matter concludes next February.

I agree that the pension should be increased immediately. There is no need for the government to wait for a review to do this. However, I find it quite hypocritical that the opposition criticise the Rudd Government for not increasing the pension when they themselves did not set adequate pension levels whilst they were in Government. They are right to criticise the Rudd Government on this but they ought to admit that they didn't adequately deal with the matter whilst they were in Government.