Originally Posted by
GoldfishMan
Exactly this. However, it is certainly not unique to NSW. Almost every "democratic" election invariably becomes a 2 horse race. Go figure. I'm no expert in the matter, but if you look at it purely from a voter's perspective, say a "strong" third party were to emerge out of nowhere. Would you use your one and only vote on that 3rd party? Remember, you wouldn't know if there would be millions more people like you who would vote for the new party, but you do know that there would be millions others who would vote for either of the 2 existing major parties. If very few people voted for that 3rd party, then you would've wasted your vote.
There are other intricacies like majority seats, balance of power, king makers, etc... The system makes it feel like, if you voted for a small party, you might end up getting something you didn't bargain for. Say your guy ends up being king maker and then favours the exact party you hated. You have no control over that outcome.