A curate's egg, but far from rotten

This sort of complaint rings hollow coming from the conservative side of politics. In any event, in this instance, it is largely false.

As regards education, the Government has a good record (especially in the areas of student-testing and literacy, causes which were close to Carr's heart).

Of course, myriad problems do exist. But the root cause of many of them is lack of adequate funding, and that – for the most part – is Canberra's responsibility. Our federal system is unwieldy and unbalanced: although the Commonwealth has most of the key taxing powers, the States and/or local councils bear the lion's share of responsibility for service delivery.

Myth Number 4: NSW Labor has been soft on "law and order"

The opposite is true. The NSW Police Force is cleaner and more efficient than it was when Labor took office. Crime rates are mostly lower and jail populations bigger. Some civil liberties have been curtailed. Carr's legislation in 1999 revamping the (civil) tort system was bold and far-reaching. Indeed, some of those measures have been criticised, justifiably, as too draconian.

Myth Number 5: NSW has been eclipsed by other States and/or has "let down" the rest of Australia

This may be the most baseless myth of all. NSW has always been the engine-room of the Australian economy. It still is, despite the fact that other States have benefited from the resources boom (Queensland, WA) and/or routinely receive a greater share of Commonwealth revenue per capita (South Australia, Tasmania).

To deride NSW is to deride Australia. Does anyone seriously suggest that Australia has floundered since 1995, relative to the world? No, Australia has flourished – at least by economic measures.

If the NSW Labor Government has been an economic failure since 1995, then so was the Howard-Costello Government of 1996-2007. So too was Kevin Rudd's, despite it having kept Australia out of recession during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-9, an achievement unique in the OECD. That would have been impossible without a solid contribution by NSW.

So there it is. The voters of NSW have legitimate reasons to turf out Labor on Saturday. But let's not allow history to be rewritten in the process.