IF the Perrottet government emerges victorious from tomorrow's election, it will be on the way to equalling the 16 years that Bob Carr and his three Labor successors held on to power before the voters turfed them out in 2011 in favour of Barry O'Farrell.
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On the "It's time" factor alone, the Coalition has an uphill battle to retain office.
Since Jodi McKay was replaced as Labor leader by Chris Minns, it is fair to say the opposition's political fortunes have strengthened.
They have enjoyed a long stretch of wins in opinion polls.
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But as is so often the case, the margin appears to be shrinking in the final run home as undecided voters make up their minds.
In the Hunter region, seven of nine electorates are held by Labor, and on double-digit margins. The return of the sitting members in those seats - Cessnock, Charlestown, Maitland, Newcastle, Port Stephens, Swansea and Wallsend- is effectively assured.
In Lake Macquarie, Independent Greg Piper has a similar lock over the seat he has held since 2007, when he and Wallsend's Sonia Hornery entered parliament, making them the longest-serving Hunter MPs.
Over the years, Newcastle Labor MP Tim Crakanthorp battled gamely in parliament to get to the bottom of the Newcastle container terminal restrictions that the Coalition secretly baked into their 2013-14 port privatisations.
But it took Mr Piper's private member's bill to force the government to shift.
Mr Piper has been good for Lake Macquarie, but if he wants to see the seat remain Independent after his time in office, he will need to work with his community to find a potential successor.
If the region has eight safe seats, then Upper Hunter - the second-most marginal Coalition electorate in the state, with a margin of just 0.5 per cent - is on a knife-edge.
Labor's Peree Watson needs only a small swing to defeat the National Party incumbent Dave Layzell, but with Labor and the Coalition both focused on Western Sydney, she has received fewer high-profile ministerial visitors than might have otherwise been expected.
If Mr Layzell hangs on, but Labor wins office, Upper Hunter will be represented by an opposition member. This question - and its inverse with Ms Watson - will likely be on the minds of many Upper Hunter voters.
Across the region, a change in government would also allow the region's sitting Labor MPs to disprove the "safe seat syndrome" that many believe is the Hunter's biggest political problem when it comes to attracting Macquarie Street's attention, and its spending priorities.
Which ever party forms the next government - either with an outright majority or in minority rule with cross-bench support - the people of this region rightly demand a fair go, and evidence of a government working for the entire state, and not just Sydney and the key marginal electorates.
All elections are important, but an effective and principled government in these increasingly uncertain times is a must.
ISSUE: 39,863
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