About one hour in to the vote counting it will be clear NSW will have a conservative government.
I promise you the ALP has started its election campaign, and doing it VERY WELL.
There however will be no Micheal Clark no last minute savior, we are gone.
Interest may be who controls the upper house?
Do states truly need them.
Queensland has got on without them and some true nuts find their way in to Parliament via that back door.
Just a few months ago I would have said the greens, maybe it is still so.
I think maybe not, my thoughts are these Bob Brown openly said he did not want a preference deal, I then made sure that FOREVER mine did not as far as possible go to his team.
Sentiment in Labor circles is growing, one day it will be a very big wave hitting the beach, greens are no Friend .
If they control the upper house it will be mayhem.
But the ALP vote will be its worst ever so small conservatives may need more chairs in the house this election is going to be interesting.
Who will be Capitan in the Labor row boat? Robo or Dela Bosca? if both hold seats some very big swings are on.

Belly, you know the ALP NSW personalities far better than me, but I'd suggest you might be better off with a clean sweep.

Out with the old, tired, corrupt, and in with the new lot, not tired, but just as corruptible no doubt. At least you will have the illusion of honesty there.

But I like this line of yours:

"Queensland has got on without them and some true nuts find their way in to Parliament via that back door."

Yes, indeed.

The ALP did away with the upper house years ago, and, to be honest, Qld is no worse off without it than any other state. At least we save on the wages of a total waste of space.

So, my advice is to free every state of their upper house as soon as possible, rather than re-instate ours here.

But, a big but, there might be a better way, for politics but maybe not 'parties'.

We could move to multi-member electorates, based on the Tassie model, but still no upper house.

Voters would at least have someone to vote for, and the current safe seat syndrome would be harder to keep going, but not vanish I'd imagine.

TBC we have real air wasters in that house here and yes do away with it and them.
I do know NSW politics,and yes see a rather brave and hard working team trying to save a lifeboat or two in the election.
Unfortunately some of our biggest duds are in our safest seats.
The public will be the only ones who can do that.
No joy here none,we are in for it big time.
See my party my life time hope and dream party, is not running this election, not for office at least.
It is in hiding,ashamed of its sell out.
Its ministers for parks, Forrest's, RTA and more have kicked the workers in the guts.
Have let NSW railways become a funder for criminal contracts often run by its staff, like those other government things I spoke of a Christmas carton of beer to the right person can buy a contract.
Put permanent workers out of work and casuals in to under paying unsafe jobs that thieve tax payers money.
My ALP in NSW will thrive AFTER its fall.
But fall it will.
Renewal is going to make the election after interesting,massive victory, massive, may let the incoming government get too complacent, or it may give them the footing for a decade in government.
Labor needs to rebuild and remember only the best should serve.
Not best mate, not best burnt our former union official, not another Lawyer , but Joe average , one who thinks party and voters first, not self.

Belly, you have-it-in-one here, "Unfortunately some of our biggest duds are in our safest seats".

But in fairness to the NSW ALP they are not alone in this corruption of the system.

I think all parties have duds in safe seats, which is not the same as saying that safe seats produce duds, but it certainly is a factor.

I lived in a safe ALP seat, the member was a dud, and true to form, was a minister in the Hawke era.

Now I live in a safe Coalition seat and true to form, the member was a minister in Howard's government.

Safe seats assist cabinet stability, no doubt, but hell, they also assist laziness, complacency and and easy life for the incumbent.

We need to create a system that does not encourage safe seats.

A hard-to-imagine task, unfortunately.

Oh, the state seats here are all 'safe' too, and the same style of duds operate across the parties that hold them.

'Sinecure', 'rotten borough',anti-democratic are all phrases that spring to mind.

If the NSW ALP could deal-out your upper house, as the Qld ALP did, that would be a start, but they wouldn't even dream of doing that these days.

We are all lumbered with mediocre politicians I'm afraid, a reflection of the wider community no doubt.

That TBC is true but revolutions come only rarely.
The disaster about to crush the once power House Of the ALP in NSW.
Is also the tool that forces change.
And it will be for the better NSW you could once say, has an ALP government far more than conservative.
That saw dead heads, egos, on legs and a few idiots forgetting the ALP is not the property of its power brokers.
One day after the defeat I will play my roll in rebuilding.
I think I do every time I post in such threads.
Those who got in to the house on unions backs, and forgot us instantly are in my spotlight.
Those total twits who say stop it there is an election coming what happens in the party stays in the party, do far more harm than the conservatives.
Such gutlessness is cowardice at its worst.

Go for it Belly, and good luck.

I don't fancy your chances, but that does not mean 'don't try'.

I think the ALP 'reform' needs to start with unions leaving the fold, establishing what their members want, and then, if it is deemed worth the members while, endorsing those ALP candidates that reflect the union's views.

Unions may find they get more members too, if it is known that membership fees do not automatically go to the ALP.

In fact, if unions intend to donate monies to political parties, members should be allowed to nominate where their share is to go.

That way unions will be funding a range of political parties, and buy influence in more than the ALP.

It would be hard for Abbott and Co to keep pushing for the ability of employers to sack staff unfairly if the Liberals have a couple of millon$$$ from a union wouldn't it?

And there are plenty of Liberal-National unionists around.

Unpalatable from an 1890 perspective, but a new reality today I fear.