EDITORIAL : THE AUSTRALIAN, AUSTRALIA

Lights dim on a Hollywood era 

ELIZABETH Taylor relished the spotlight for almost 70 years.

As a child star she charmed 1940s moviegoers in Lassie Come Home , National Velvet and Little Women. As an adult she was the first screen actor paid $US1 million when she captivated her co-star Richard Burton and much of the world in Cleopatra in 1967. Away from the movies, but never far from the spotlight, Elizabeth Taylor was a complex character and a woman of faith who converted to Judaism in her 20s. A mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, her generous philanthropy and capacity for friendship more than matched her extravagance, overindulgence and weakness for 30-carat diamonds.

Taylor, whose favourite axioms included "big girls need big diamonds", personified Technicolor Hollywood glamour. As famous for her striking dark hair, deep blue/violet eyes and ruby mouth as for her acting skills, she recognised that she was a more accomplished star than an actress. She was ambivalent about the insular world of filmmaking after being steered into it by her mother. But Taylor's two Oscars were well deserved, especially the second for her portrayal of Martha, the carping, heavy drinking wife of an academic in the Ivy League drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Conscious of her foibles, including that she had more spouses than Henry VIII, Taylor once described herself as ". . . a very committed wife. And I should be committed too -- for being married so many times". Of her seven husbands, the first of whom was hotel heir Conrad Hilton, the actress regarded film producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958, and Burton, a leading Shakespearean actor whom she married and divorced twice, as her true loves.

It was Taylor's friendship with Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS, that motivated her to devote much of her energy and talents to taking a leading role in fundraising to help combat the disease. In that work, which became almost a full-time career, she was supported by her close friend, controversial singer Michael Jackson, with whom enjoyed watching Walt Disney movies and whose untimely death broke her heart. Taylor's own health problems, including chronic back pain, substance addiction, a brain tumour and congestive heart failure tested her resilience to the limit. Asked once what she would like written on her tombstone, Taylor opted for a simple phrase that in her case meant a great deal: "She lived." And lived large.

NSW must emerge from Labor's heart of darkness

THE horror we predicted four years ago must finally end.

Elections seldom shape up as the lay down misere unfolding in NSW tomorrow but while a Coalition victory seems a foregone conclusion, there is much about this poll that is crucial for voters in NSW and around the nation. Voters have a chance to make a statement about what should happen to governments that turn their back on their commitments, toy with the trappings of power and administer the authority of the state for their own benefit rather than the community's. This is the manifest failing that NSW Labor has descended into over 16 years under Bob Carr, Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally. It could not be summarised more pithily than through the words uttered by Premier Keneally herself: "We lost our way because we were too focused on ourselves and not enough on what matters to families in this state." Her frankness and apology are to be applauded, but they cannot, in The Australian's view, stave off a reckoning.

It must be said that the first decade of Labor rule, under Mr Carr, was largely successful. From staging the world's best Olympic Games, instigating transport infrastructure such as the Cross City Tunnel and the M7 Westlink, to consolidating the state budget and tackling police corruption, there were achievements to be proud of and much more to strive for when Mr Carr handed over to Mr Iemma in 2005. But if Labor had deliberately decided to fritter away that foundation and betray the public's trust, it could not have made a better fist of it. What was once a serious government has, for the past four years or more, become a pastiche of duplicity, peccadillos and incompetence, with leaders wheeled in and out at the behest of faction leaders, showing a contempt for voters. Along the way botched attempts to privatise electricity assets cost the state billions of dollars. Road and rail transport stagnated, angering commuters, while failed schemes such as the ditched Metro cost millions without moving a single passenger. The NSW hospital system has become the most troubled in the nation, regularly failing patients, and the state's economic growth has trailed national trends for a decade. Once proud Sydneysiders have become defensive about their city, while the regions have cried for help.

All this has been played out against a sordid backdrop of sleaze. A serving minister was convicted of child sex and drug charges, then a series of scandals unfolded with ministers dancing in their underwear, filmed dropping in to a gay sex club, downloading porn at parliament house and playing out their extra-marital affairs in public, while other MPs were caught rorting allowances. Labor mates have been appointed to high-paying jobs and the parliamentary team has danced to the tune of the ALP's Sussex Street headquarters. The people of NSW have seen laid bare the consequences of an unchecked culture of nepotism and patronage. Labor's advertising betrays it long gave up any chance of victory but merely has cautioned against voters handing too much power, in other words, too many seats, to the Coalition. This is a transparent attempt to save the political furniture and reserve the right to claim even a devastating defeat as some consolation. Voters need to see through this and examine the question from the opposite angle. If a government has failed to deliver, presented a long list of scandals and has been self-indulgent to the detriment of the community, what would it say about our democracy if it were not severely punished at the polls?

The only road to the remote chance of redemption for Labor would have been to make an honest attempt at reform and renewal, and this is where Ms Keneally has failed. While she has managed to wave goodbye to more than 20 serving MPs in the lead up to this election, she has done nothing to wrest control of the party from the union and factional powerbrokers who installed her and are largely responsible for the malaise of the past decade. The discredited and directionless NSW Right faction still holds sway through upper house leader Eric Roozendaal and leader-in-waiting and ex-Unions NSW boss John Robertson. In fact a disproportionate campaign effort has been activated over recent weeks to safeguard Mr Robertson's switch to the lower house in Blacktown, probably at the expense of other winnable seats. After the election, the NSW Right again will be left to divvy up what are likely to be the pitiful spoils of opposition. Despite Ms Keneally's talk of renewal, it will be situation normal. That is why The Australian can find nothing encouraging to say about the government's campaign, save for the energy, charm and relentless work ethic of Ms Keneally. If nothing else, she deserves to stay on as leader if she chooses, and if she commits to democratising her party.

The people of NSW deserve a change and will have high expectations for an incoming Coalition government. They rightly expect Barry O'Farrell to realise his promise to make the state No 1 again. This means he needs to ditch his small-target strategy immediately and demonstrate the sort of action and imagination that the public expects. The opposition has not been blameless in NSW's decline, from failing to do enough to win the last election, to colluding with the unions to thwart electricity privatisation. But on the weekend Mr O'Farrell deserves to be given a massive mandate, which he should use wisely. Partnerships can be formed with the private sector to provide new rail lines and roadways; train and ferry operations can be run more efficiently; Sydney can assert itself as the nation's premier city; and more nurses, teachers and police can be employed if union power can be challenged, bloated bureaucracies can be trimmed and private investment encouraged. Although unconvinced by the opposition four years ago, The Australian still urged voters to punish Labor or risk more of the same "horror" but we could not have foreseen the heart of darkness into which the party has descended. This time most voters should see that the horror of returning Labor would be unspeakable.

Mr O'Farrell has been disciplined and sure-footed, leaving Labor to run a scare campaign about his "secret" plan. We've been disappointed he hasn't revealed a transformative agenda and hope he does have a plan.

The Australian has no hesitation endorsing him to form government. We urge Mr O'Farrell to be bold and decisive from Sunday because the people of NSW are eager to see radical change for the better and there is no time to waste.