In June last year, NSW Premier Mike Baird and Police Minister Troy Grant stood before the media to announce that Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione's contract would be extended for up to two years.
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The decision surprised many, as it was an open secret that Scipione planned to retire the following September and was likely to be succeeded by one of two deputies, Nick Kaldas or Catherine Burn.
But events had intervened in the form of the very public airing of a historic bugging scandal that sensationally exposed the toxic relationships at the most senior levels of the NSW Police.
The scandal focused on an operation codenamed Mascot, which ran between 1999 and 2001, which used a corrupt former policeman, codenamed M5, to target allegedly corrupt police with a listening device.
Burn was team leader of Mascot, which bugged Kaldas more than a decade ago.
During a parliamentary inquiry, Kaldas accused Burn of raising his name with an informant later used to bug him, while Burn detailed serious corruption allegations against Kaldas that had led him to be targeted.
Burn later said she no longer believed the allegations.
Instead of doing what many believed they should have done – announcing Scipione's retirement and launching the process of choosing his replacement – Baird and Grant took the easy option.
By giving Scipione a $100,000 pay rise and convincing him to stay on, they bought themselves some time.
As Scipione enters the witness box at the Lindt siege inquest on Wednesday, that decision is quickly shaping as a sliding doors moment for the Baird government.
The evidence that is emerging suggests an under-resourcing issue that could have hampered the capability of police to handle an act of terrorism such as the one that played out in the Lindt Cafe in December 2014 and led to the death of hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson.
Given the heightened domestic terrorism concerns that had been alarming the entire country for several years, it's arguable that is an unforgivable failure.
The potential for blow back on Baird and Grant is obvious, given they are in constant contact with Scipione about these and other policing issues.
The other consequence of Baird and Grant's failure to take decisive action is that they have lost one of their best options to replace Scipione as commissioner.
Fed up, Kaldas quit the force in March this year. Five months later, he has yet to be replaced.
So as the reputations of two of their most senior police officers are sustaining serious damage - further exposing problems at the top of the NSW Police - Baird and Grant have robbed themselves of their best way to fix it.
