Its failure to focus and follow through on even the early stages of fulfilling its promise for White Bay adds to the growing impression that through 2016, the government may have taken on more than it could manage. The lack of progress on a technology hub might be another symptom of problems that led to missteps on council mergers, greyhound racing and planning for the WestConnex Motorway and Sydney Metro line.

Google's withdrawal has dealt a heavy blow to NSW's touted aspirations to compete as a global tech hub where the jobs of the future are realised. Mike Baird's talk of a "quantum harbour in the Bays" comparable to California's Silicon Valley purposefully attracted the attention of the global tech world. A tweet by venture capitalist Mark Carnegie over the weekend in response to a New York Times article on the success of initiatives by city of Wellington to attract global tech talent suggests disillusion over local efforts: "Read this and stab yourself. Beaten by New Zealand again", Carnegie wrote.

Many were dismayed when in November 2015 – one month after it revealed its White Bay plans – the government knocked back the bid by the home-grown tech giant Atlassian, now valued at $US7 billion on the NASDAQ, to redevelop the Australian Technology Park site at Redfern as a tech hub in partnership with Walker Corporation. The site was sold instead to a Mirvac-led consortium with the Commonwealth Bank as anchor tenant. Although Mirvac said it wanted the space to be a tech hub too, there was scepticism that the Commonwealth Bank would be as attractive as a neighbour to start-ups as Atlassian would have been.

It's also questionable whether start-ups will ever be able to afford the high rents that harbour views at White Bay might command. But the immediate problem is lack of transport to the site. The government was warned of it two years ago when David Pitchford, then chief executive of the state government body responsible for executing the White Bay revitalisation plan UrbanGrowth, said it would be a "disaster" without major transport infrastructure. He left late last year and is yet to be replaced.

The state government-funded Sydney School of Entrepreneurship is a welcome initiative as is the interim Sydney Startup Hub planned for the CBD by Jobs for NSW. In light of its tech ambitions, it's hard to understand why the government seems not yet to have planned for even the most basic transport improvements which would give potential White Bay tenants greater confidence, such as re-opening the Glebe Island Bridge to allow shuttle bus, pedestrian and cycling traffic, or instituting a ferry service. UrbanGrowth has now been shifted from the planning portfolio to the Premier's department, suggesting Gladys Berejiklian perceives there's a problem to be solved. Less talk and more action would be a good path forward.