In what pundits are suggesting is his Kevin Rudd moment, Mr Baird’s embarrassing backflip on his move to ban greyhound racing has left the Premier looking weak and indecisive.

Like Kevin Rudd’s disastrous backdown on emissions trading, the greyhound debacle will be viewed as a knee-jerk response to poor polling, a decision made on the fly with a by-election looming.  

At the press conference announcing the policy reversal, Mr Baird looked ashen as he faced a barrage of questions. As Tuesday unfolded, the man people once said would make a good prime minister appeared to have made few friends out of the backflip. 

For the animal welfare lobby, it was a betrayal. And for the greyhound industry, the turnaround was met with scepticism because few details were forthcoming. In the Shoalhaven there was unease because of a suggestion the number of tracks would be reduced. That puts the future of the Nowra track under a cloud. 

It’s also made life awkward for local parliamentarians, including Kiama MP Gareth Ward, who was a vocal supporter of the planned ban when it was announced.

Having been adamant the ban was necessary, that after revelations of animal cruelty and live baiting there was no coming back for the greyhound industry, Mr Baird’s humiliating turnaround will echo through the remainder of his term.

“I got it wrong, we got it wrong, the cabinet got it wrong and the government got it wrong," Mr Baird said. Those words will haunt him. And they will bring pressure to bear for other unpopular decisions his government has made to be reversed – among them the Sydney lockout laws.

Perhaps even more serious will be the continued erosion of faith in the political system and the politicians who inhabit the corridors of power. When our leaders are so adamant one week that a course of action is absolutely necessary and irreversible and then throw that resolve out the window the next week, voters can be forgiven their growing frustration and cynicism.

Those whose livelihoods depend on the greyhound industry can be forgiven for feeling angry as well, given the stress they have been put through quite needlessly.