Elections are for governments to lose, so the aphorism goes. Regardless of whether that holds true, the NSW Liberals must have been thrilled that, throughout much of the state's recent election campaign, the Labor opposition, rather than the government, was making most of the news.
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While the final outcome of Saturday's vote remains unclear, the Coalition suffered only a modest swing against it (about 2.5 percentage points). This won't be enough to prevent it from forming government, whether in its own right, or with the support of independents or minor parties. Gladys Berejiklian will continue to be Premier.
Clearly, the Coalition's past two terms in office have not greatly troubled NSW voters. Indeed, the Berejiklian government's agenda was very similar to what the Labor Party proposed. Faced with such a choice, it was perhaps unsurprising voters stuck with whom they knew.
One suspects this was Labor's greatest problem. The opposition leader whom voters knew, Luke Foley, was missing; he resigned in disgrace four months ago after it was reported widely that he had groped a female journalist.
His little-known replacement, Michael Daley, was the focus of the campaign's only memorable incidents. First, he promised during a live, on-air stoush to sack conservative broadcaster Alan Jones from the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust. That might even have proved a hit with voters.
The second incident, however, did not. An old recording of Mr Daley complaining about Asians with PhDs stealing "young Australians' jobs" was leaked – conveniently for the government – a week ago. Mr Daley apologised, but the damage – in multicultural Sydney, home to most of Australia's Chinese diaspora – was done.
The Berejiklian government had done enough not to lose. Labor, meanwhile, threw away the small chance it had.
Nonetheless, federal Coalition parliamentarians can take little comfort from Saturday's vote. Voters again showed their savvy: they are easily able to separate affairs of their state from those of the Commonwealth. They will not be confused when they cast their votes in the federal election just over a month from now.
Still, some will ignore this obvious lesson to push their own agendas. Consider, for example, the response of another disgraced former leader: federal Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. As the NSW outcome became clearer on Saturday night, he began pushing his interpretation of the results: voters wanted subsidised coal power; more relaxed gun-control laws; and more water to be diverted from rivers to farms.
It seems Coalition parliamentarians have given up even the pretence of trying to stay in office; they are ditching broad appeal in favour of whatever they think will ensure their survival in their local electorate.
Bill Shorten's Labor opposition faces a very different task to that which defied Mr Daley. The unstable Morrison government has done more than enough to lose the May election. One suspects that only a catastrophically damaging revelation about Mr Shorten will prevent him from becoming Australia's next prime minister.
This isn't necessarily an ideal way to decide the nation's fate, but it's the democracy we have – and it works.