NSW:Barry O'Farrell warns of Green nightmare

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2011
NSW:Barry O'Farrell warns of Green nightmare

By Caris Bizzaca and Belinda Merhab

SYDNEY, Feb 15 AAP - Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell says it will be a "nightmare"

if the Greens secure the balance of power in the NSW upper house and is warning voters
not to put them "in the passenger seat of government".

The coalition is expected to win the March 26 poll by a significant margin but Mr O'Farrell
on Tuesday conceded the party wouldn't gain control of the Legislative Council.

And he wants voters to realise the Greens could well end up with the balance of power.

"The second worst nightmare on the 27th of March (after an election loss) would be
to wake up to a Liberal government and an upper house controlled by the Greens," Mr O'Farrell
told reporters in Cabramatta, in western Sydney.

"There is a danger the Greens may well have the balance of power, which is why we're
working hard to support our upper house team."

Mr O'Farrell said the eventual make-up of the upper house was hard to predict.

"There are many options but the options I'm working on are to defeat an incompetent
government and to ensure that unlike Canberra we don't have Greens in the passenger seat
of government," Mr O'Farrell said.

But Greens MP David Shoebridge issued his own warning, saying it was very likely that
a "rampant" primary vote for the coalition would deliver it and the Shooters' Party control
of the upper house.

The only way to prevent this and achieve a progressive upper house would be to maximise
the Greens vote, he added.

The Greens have announced they will not direct preferences to either of the main parties
and are instead focusing on increasing their numbers in the upper house and on winning
their first lower house seat.

In another day of campaigning, Mr O'Farrell visited Cabramatta police station where
he pledged $20 million for extra DNA testing, 25 more mobile command vehicles and 100
number plate recognition units.

"This is about making sure the technology available to police is as up-to-date as the
technology being used by criminals across this state," he said.

Across town, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally promised $30 million over four years to
help people with disabilities cope with cost of living pressures - a package given bipartisan
support by Mr O'Farrell.

"People with disabilities do face a substantially higher cost of living and day-to-day
challenges that the rest of us do not," she told the National Disability Services annual
state conference in Sydney.

Speaking to Macquarie Radio earlier in the morning, Ms Keneally quashed rumours she
would seek a career in federal politics if she lost the election, saying she had "entirely"

ruled out that option.

Ms Keneally also acknowledged Labor could be defeated in March but said she was "in
this election to win it".

"I know the polls say it is going to be tough but I'm in it to win it and my focus...

is to focus on March 26 and what I would do as premier, if I was re-elected," she said.

"Should we be in the position where we are in opposition, I'm the leader of the Labor
Party, and it's my job, until I walk away from it, and I have no intention of walking
away from the Australian Labor Party."

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