The NSW Electoral Commission needs to postpone next month’s state election for at least six months to allow time for a fair, just and equitable poll contest to take place.

The call has come from Simon Benson, spokesperson for almost the entire mainstream media operating in the state.

The Australian newspaper columnist was recently appointed chair of a steering committee created by those MSM outlets in a gritty show of their determination to ensure the return of Premier Dominic Perrottet’s LNP state government for a well-deserved fourth term. Benson was the unanimous choice for the position following the recent news detailing his heavy involvement as one of the nation’s most senior and respected journalists in ensuring Robodebt killed as many innocent Australians as possible.

“I guess the enormity of that task, while never underestimated, has now become obvious to all our partner members”, Benson told The Bug this morning.

“Our primary aim of creating a level playing field, the very bedrock of our democratic process, well before polling day – one where we all work diligently to chip away at Labor’s current lead in the polls so that the two major parties are roughly on equal primary votes, giving the LNP a fair chance of success – is maybe now a hill too steep to climb in the five weeks left until 25 March.

“The oline bookies continue to give Dom and his hard-working team no bloody chance at all and front pages such as this morning’s SMH (above) aren’t helping one iota.

“Bevan [SMH editor Bevan Shields] was away last night at a NSW Rail corporate dinner/fundraiser and he was as shocked as anybody when he saw that splash this morning. The news editor and sub who worked on that are no longer with the company but hiccups like that are ones we simply can’t afford if we are to achieve our noble and worthwhile goals as professional, ethical and fair media organisations.”

Benson said a conference call of all the major players late last night – The Daily Telegraph and the Sky News Channel from NewsCorp, the Herald mastheads, The Australian Financial Review, Channel 9 and of course 2GB and 2UE from the Nine stable, and naturally enough the Seven and 10 Networks – all agreed “more time is needed to get things right”.

“The extra six months would also give all of us time to build up our dirt files on Chris Minns,” Benson added. “The very future of our wonderful state is at stake here so we’re all calling on the electoral commission to do the right thing.”