Nine days before the NSW election of 24 March 2007, an accident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge left an estimated 35,000 rush hour train commuters stranded for many hours. It was the latest in a number of serious transport problems in the capital. Australian state and territory election arguments revolve around the issue of whether or not services are provided— and perform adequately.

During 2005–2006, Newspoll had Labor trailing the Coalition parties, pointing to community unhappiness in a state with a host of government service delivery problems. Despite this, the Labor Government won a comfortable electoral victory, with the issue of poorly-performing State services clearly not persuading enough voters to support the Opposition parties. What brought enough voters back to Labor’s side for it to win? Why were its opponents unable to capitalise on voter frustration?