And what did we the people see, Gladys, what did we see? Before our very eyes, on Friday evening, it happened. You effectively announced that the Jones bullying had won, that you had indeed ordered the horse racing ad to go on the Opera House. A shadow moved across our fair city and it wasn’t just the storm of the moment. It was the one to come in the fight to break free of Jonestown, and you have seen nothing yet. Premier, here is the guts of it. Gladys Berejiklian has instructed the Sydney Opera House to allow its sails to be lit up with colours, numbers and a trophy to promote next Saturday’s Everest horse race. Credit:AAP Your craven collapse to the desires of the shock jock is not remotely the stuff leadership is made of. It not only deeply disappoints, dismays and disgusts your detractors, but also many of your remaining supporters - and I used to be one, at least personally.

I repeat. How could you? Three years ago, when Alan Jones was badgering Malcolm Turnbull to declare his loyalty to Tony Abbott, Turnbull famously replied: “I don’t take dictation from you, Alan.” Loading But you do, Gladys, and we have never had a better example of it, with the possible exception of the stadiums debacle where, once again, Jones was driving the absurdity of knocking down two stadiums at a price of $2.5 billion. How could you?

In Jones’s “interview” with Ms Herron, you had the worst example of toxic bullying imaginable from a notoriously misogynistic shock jock, wanting her to ignore the charter she is bound to observe by law. And what do you do? Do you publicly berate Jones, demonstrate the bare hungry sniffing minimum of leadership required and tell Jones that you run this state, not him, and it is like his damn hide to invoke your name while he is disgracing himself? Do you put out a tweet like the highly respected businesswoman Ann Sherry saying this far and no further: “Alan Jones specialises in trying to demean and bully. The SOH is NOT a billboard. #SydneyOperaHouse #bullying.” Do you, like Ms Sherry, stand up for decency, show solidarity against the forces of misogyny, not to mention the craven commercialisation of a public asset?

No. You craven cave in. You side with the bully. You put your name next to his, and insist that his wishes are observed, just as you did on the stadiums and the greyhounds. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video You insist that the iconic Opera House ignore its charter and promote a gambling event, all at a time when gambling has never been a greater problem in Australia than right now, with lives destroyed, homes lost and every week more suicides put down to gambling as a cause.

Why you did this, Gladys, we will never know. Most of us thought you were better than that. Royal Randwick will host the Everest race next weekend. Credit:Jenny Evans You came to the job as an honest broker, with a strong reputation as a straight shooter. If anyone in political leadership was likely to put Jones in his place when it came to bullying women, it was you. After all, Jones himself sneered at the very idea of you becoming Premier, saying while you were a “nice person,” you were not what NSW needed – a Donald Trump like figure. “Who is going to do what Trump is doing and stand up to the bureaucrats and drain the swamp? No one,” he said.

And now, two years later, this is the bloke you side with? You can spin this any way you like, Gladys, but there is no way around it. Loading As social media has noted, this will be your “Abbott knighting Prince Philip moment,” the single thing from which there is no coming back. Yes, the images of sport have been put on the sails before, celebrating beloved national teams, but that is what they were – images of celebration, not tacky gambling ads in a city already awash with them. As for your Racing NSW and your CEO Peter V’landys, here’s a news flash: