This is not to suggest Nationals MP Andrew Gee faces any threat at this stage from Labor’s Bernard Fitzsimon or this week’s nomination for The Greens, local nurse Janelle Bicknell. 

It does, however, go some way to ensuring that as Premier Mike Baird rolls out his policies for re-election there are dissenting voices giving voters cause to pause and ask whether regional seats like Orange would in fact be better off.

The big announcement this week was that privatising the poles and wires of the NSW electricity network would deliver a huge windfall for the state.

Premier Baird foreshadowed a $20 billion investment in infrastructure but only if he was re-elected, with an implied mandate to go ahead with the privatisation.

It is a simple plan at heart, to fund infrastructure spending by selling off infrastructure. Is there a problem with that? 

Presumably not if the network’s current dividend, in excess of $1 billion annually, can be replaced by some other revenue stream, and private sector control of the distribution network does not result in rising costs for consumers and a less reliable service. 

Out in the country some in The Nationals have not supported the privatisation. There are real concerns about job losses and questions about the level of service and speed of repairs, particularly after major storm damage.

Coal seam gas development is an on-again off-again issue for the government. Undertakings to quarantine prime agricultural land eased many concerns, and there is not thought to be reserves to exploit in the Orange electorate anyway.

Let’s hope it stays that way because government plans to relax the regulation of CSG exploration, against the recommendations of the chief scientist, will raise a doubt The Greens, in particular, will be quick to exploit. This has been one area where they have had unlikely allies in the farming community.