Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

New South Wales
The second strand has to do with the size of NSW. Although it is not physically
the largest of the six Australian states, NSW has the biggest population, the greatest
wealth and the most government activity. In 2018, NSW had 7.95 million people
(1.52 million more than Victoria, the next most populous state) and generated 32.7
per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product (compared with Victoria’s 23.4 per
cent). In 2016, NSW became the first quarter of a trillion dollar state economy in
Australia. The NSW public sector employed 473,000 workers, almost twice as many
as the Commonwealth (241,000) and over 100,000 more than Victoria.
NSW’s potential to dominate national politics, as well as the fears this potential
has generated in other parts of the country, have been clear since the Federation
debates over the Australian Constitution. NSW has played a major role in national
politicsandisoftenseenasthestatethatispoliticallyclosesttothenationalcentre.
It sends about one-third of the members to the House of Representatives (currently
47 out of 150) and has provided almost half of the country’s prime ministers (14
of 30). The state’s citizens have identified more closely with the centre and have
possessed weaker state loyalties than citizens of other states. 3
Perhaps for this reason, NSW has rarely been a leader of the states in
Commonwealth–state conflicts and has not been particularly innovative among the
states in developing new directions and approaches in public policy. 4 As Elaine
Thompson comments in her survey of NSW governments, ‘Pragmatism seems
to be the order of the day rather than bold visions from either the Left or the
Right’. 5 Politics within NSW has been dominated by practical problem-solving
administration, tinged with anxiety about whether the performance of the state’s
government and public sector match its claims to premier status.
The constitutional framework
Over a period of a century or so after 1788, NSW developed a pattern of representative
and responsible government – including strong bicameralism, entrenchment
of key constitutional provisions and judicial review – that later helped to form
expectations about the Australian Constitution. 6
Until1823,alllegislativeandexecutiveauthorityintheBritishcolonyofNSW,
which covered most of the continent of Australia, resided in the governor. The Legislative
Council was established in 1823 to give the colonists token involvement in
thelegislativeprocess.AnExecutiveCouncilwasformedin1825toadvisethe
governor in his administrative capacity. Both were nominated bodies consisting of
officials and leading colonists. This was the beginning of the process of establishing
3 Holmes and Sharman 1977, 34–59; Smith 2001, 281–2.
4 Deane 2015; Hughes 1984; Nelson 1985a; Twomey 2012.
5 Thompson 2007, 361.
6 Sharman 1989.
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