Bob Carr will go down in history as the longest-serving premier of NSW. But he will be remembered for little else.
Ten years of dominant leadership is quite an achievement and it will ensure his legacy in Labor history. However, what really counts is not the gaining of power but what is achieved with power. Aside from the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Carr merely achieved power, he didn't use it.
He leaves behind a state confronting a host of challenges caused by neglect, obfuscation and lack of leadership. He confronted no crisis or disaster; indeed, economically he had a dream run. His task was thus not onerous. Perhaps, like his hero Lincoln, he would have done better if he had faced a crisis.
It was not supposed to be like this. Carr came to the job carrying the weight of great expectations. He was the passionate intellectual firmly rooted in the working class with a remarkable knowledge of politics, the media and public policy. As a philosopher-king he apparently had it all.
His legacy sits in stark contrast to that of Jeff Kennett.
Kennett, remember, came to power with low expectations and facing a crisis. He was no intellectual nor was he a policy wonk and his roots were firmly fixed in the leafy, affluent suburbs of Melbourne. When he became premier in 1992, Victoria was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the economy was in recession and worse was on the horizon. Moreover, he faced a deeply hostile media, intellectual class and public service.
Yet, along with his able treasurer Alan Stockdale, Kennett transformed the state of Victoria -- economically, culturally and politically -- for the better. Yes, he did not last 10 years and he lost an unloseable election in 1999, but he nonetheless faced all challenges with vigour, inventiveness and chutzpah.
The difference between the two state leaders is that Kennett put his political capital on the line to achieve change, while Carr did not.
There are many examples.
Kennett tackled head-on the problems in the state's electricity industry. Under government ownership, the sector had long been managed as a job-creation scheme rather than as the provider of a key input to the state competitiveness. Kennett responded with a highly successful privatisation program. This not only got the government out of controlling the businesses but allowed the state to reduce its vast debt. Privatisation lowered prices for consumers and made Victorian power generators the most efficient in the country.
Although the NSW electricity sector never sank to the inefficient lows of its Victorian competitors, it still suffered from the dead hand of government ownership. Carr knew this. He was aware of gains on offer from following Kennett's lead. He even publicly expressed the need to follow suit. However, in the end he did not have the ticker.
Kennett also tackled head-on the longstanding problems of Melbourne's public transport system. The system was a rolling museum: old, obsolete trains and trams on a massive network starved of investment and stuck in a 19th-century industrial relations climate. Kennett introduced sweeping reforms that were risky and innovative. Although they were not perfect, the reforms have transformed the sector, resulting in lower-cost, high-usage, better services with modern facilities.
Again, although the Sydney train system never sank as far as Melbourne's, it suffered many of the same problems: a low level of investment, a poor industrial relations climate, and a poor service record. Despite the lessons from Kennett, Carr baulked. He spent more money, commissioned many studies and promised big changes, but little happened. As a result, the system is in disrepair and is acting as an impediment to growth.
State governments should be judged on how well they provide the basic services of health, public safety and education. This is their bread and butter. These, like everything else in life, require constant improvement and search for higher quality.
Kennett took on this challenge with a gusto never seen in Australia. For example, he introduced a case-mix system in hospital and family services. He contracted out the construction and management of prisons. He rationalised the number of schools, drastically reduced over-manning, made schools accountable to parents, introduced choice and reformed the curriculum.
Carr, to be sure, did pick up on Kennett's lead in some areas, such as case-mix funding. But for the most part, he was satisfied with the status quo and using burgeoning GST revenue and higher taxes to cover the growing inefficiencies and demand for services.
Of course, Carr's key handicap was Labor's relationship with the union movement. As in Victoria, the unions posed the greatest impediment to better services in NSW. Kennett could and did more easily take on the unions. However, there are few signs that Carr tried. Indeed, he did much to entrench union power. The matters on which Carr did provide leadership, such as on ethnic violence, came at little political cost.
Carr had great potential and had remarkable political stamina. But, unlike Kennett, he failed on the issues that count.
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