Premier League
I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the NSW Premier, Bob Carr, especially after the mess with the trains, but most recently because of an essay in the most recent edition of the Griffith Review, but I mention all this more because of encountering the musings of the Swanker, a fellow Sydney ‘blogger, on Mr. Carr’s behavior in response to John Howard’s changes in federal allocations to the state. These two editorials bring home the point that it’s all well and good to have a philosopher king, but only insofar as he can get things done. Mario Cuomo, for example, the former NY governor frequently cited by Bill as a paragon of this political type, at least sought to raise the level of discourse in his jurisdiction, but I don’t find this quite so true of Bob Carr, for all his apparent erudition. Mr. Carr manages his government well enough, if that is the only goal required of a Premier, but not the state. His eye appears too focussed on the bottom line of the NSW ledger rather than on the product: a healthy environment, affordable lifestyles, quality health care delivery mechanisms, sustained or developing infrastructure (including mass transit systems), etc. His government is failing to keep up with its promises and slow to react to problems. When it does react, it is more likely to lay blame than to address problem itself. As Quentin Dempster points out in his Griffith Review article, “Media Rules in the Court of Carr,” re-jigging the Cabinet may shift attention, but ultimately resolves nothing. Bob Carr has time to fix the problem with his governance, but after the problems with the hospitals, the rail debacle, and the forced merger of the City of Sydney and South Sydney councils, he’d better start now rather than later.