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Major parties hold rallies less than a week before NSW election

The two major parties have gathered a week out from the election, with John Howard taking aim at Anthony Albanese’s involvement in NSW while Chris Minns vowed to protect Sydney and Hunter Water.

Who won the day?

Labor will enshrine keeping Sydney Water and Hunter Water in public hands by adding laws regarding any potential sell-off to the NSW Constitution, Chris Minns has announced.

Mr Minns also used Labor’s final party rally to wage war on the wage cap for public sector workers, while committing to putting Sydney Water off the table.

Speaking to a roughly 200-strong crowd of party faithful at Western Sydney University’s campus at Parramatta South, the Labor leader reiterated the attack lines his party has utilised throughout the campaign.

He said the party would legislate to put Sydney Water and Hunter Water into the NSW Constitution, meaning any moves to sell it off would have to go through the NSW Parliament.

The Coalition has repeatedly stated they won’t sell-off public water assets, but documents revealed last week showed the option of privatising some assets had been canvassed in 2021.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns meets the locals after a speech during the campaign rally in Parramatta. Picture: Newscorp Daily Telegraph / Gaye Gerard
NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns meets the locals after a speech during the campaign rally in Parramatta. Picture: Newscorp Daily Telegraph / Gaye Gerard

Mr Minns said putting it in the NSW Constitution “stops a back door fire sale” of the assets.

“Only Labor will end the Liberal National Party’s love affair with privatisation,” he said.

Mr Minns, who was joined at the rally by the majority of his front bench, also spoke of retaining key workers by removing the public sector wage cap, which he called a “failed ideological tool”.

HOWARD SLAMS ALBO AS PENRITH TURNS BLUE

A small but mighty crowd of blue t-shirts — fuelled by a rock and roll soundtrack — descended on the ultra marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney’s west to rally for Premier Dominic Perrottet’s fight to retain government.

The seat is held on a 0.6 per cent margin by former Minister Stuart Ayres who was welcomed with the crowd chanting his name as partner Federal senator Marise Payne cheered along in the front row.

Held in Penrith’s Joan Sutherland Arts Centre, the rally added to the party’s strategic focus on battleground western Sydney seats after the official campaign launch in Leppington earlier this month.

Mr Ayres — who was dumped from the frontbench and later cleared for his involvement in John Barilaro’s appointment to an overseas trade role — has in recent weeks had the public endorsement of Liberal heavyweights former Premier Gladys Berejiklian and former Prime Minister John Howard.

Former Prime Minister John Howard took aim at Anthony Albanese. (Photo by Martin Ollman/Getty Images)
Former Prime Minister John Howard took aim at Anthony Albanese. (Photo by Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

Mr Ayres outlined his vision for Penrith — focusing his pitch in more jobs and infrastructure while slamming Labor was pulling funding from ambitious and expensive Coalition pledges.

The Liberals enlisted party elder Mr Howard to push their narrative that you can “never trust Labor with money” before he welcomed Premier Dominic Perrottet to the stage.

The former PM took a swipe at Mr Albanese’s introduction of a superannuation tax before questioning if NSW Labor leader Chris Minns will do the same.

Dominic Perrotet with his famaily at the Liberal’s "Keep Western Sydney Moving Forward" rally. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer
Dominic Perrotet with his famaily at the Liberal’s "Keep Western Sydney Moving Forward" rally. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer

“One of the things that struck me about the launch of the Labor Party’s campaign for Chris Minns was the overwhelming presence of Anthony Albanese. It was almost as if it was a mini launch of the elect Albanese campaign,” he said.

“The Labor party’s election plans in NSW have an ambiguous undeniable hole.”

Other Liberal heavyweights including former Premier Mike Baird and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Ms Berejiklian who visited the seat just days ago, were absent from the rally.

DOMINIC PERROTTET AND CHRIS MINNS MAKE THEIR FINAL PITCHES

Dominic Perrottet has declared he will fulfil the Coalition’s key election commitments “within the first six months”should he be re-elected next weekend.

Declaring the Coalition was still very much in the race to claim victory on Saturday, the Premier outlined the five key priorities that a Perrottet government would be working on “immediately”.

“We have to move fast to support our families and households and protect them from the global economic headwinds that are coming our way … and that means immediately implementing our economic plan to give $250 off every family and household energy bill across NSW,” he said.

“We will also be holding the ­federal Labor government to ­account on their promise of energy bill relief.”

Starting the “future fund” by setting up accounts for nearly one million children would come next, followed by legislation to give first-home buyers the choice not to pay stamp duty.

Dominic Perrottet meets locals at a boat ramp on the Nepean on Saturday. Picture: Christian Anstey
Dominic Perrottet meets locals at a boat ramp on the Nepean on Saturday. Picture: Christian Anstey

Other priorities will be identifying the sites for every child to get ­access to free preschool and establishing a cashless gaming task force.

Mr Perrottet would not entertain the idea of who may fill key positions on his frontbench despite the departures of his health, infrastructure, transport and customer services ministers – especially given those decisions will ­involve talks with the Nationals.

However, it is expected Matt Kean will continue in his role as Treasurer.

While Mr Minns acknowledged the Labor brand had been damaged by the actions of some members of the previous Labor government, Mr Perrottet said he did not believe the resignation of former premier ­Gladys Berejiklian – nor former prime minister Scott Morrison – had ­impacted how the public viewed the Liberals.

Asked whether it was a disadvantage to have Labor in power federally, Mr Perrottet said he had worked with both parties as treasurer and now premier “and I’ll continue to do that”, including holding the Albanese government to account on its promise of energy bill relief “which still hasn’t come through”.

When Ms Berejiklian resigned amid an investigation by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption into former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire — who was revealed to be in a “close personal relationship” with the then-premier — some of Mr Perrottet’s colleagues suggested the then 39-year-old may not have been ready to take on the job.

It was pointed out how the then-treasurer hadn’t spent time in an operational portfolio such as transport or education.

Mr Perrottet rejects the notion, pointing out how he was forced to navigate the state through the pandemic, bushfires, drought and floods as a treasurer.

“The experience that I have through that ensures that I can continue to provide support for families that they need today and set up their long term financial security,” he said.

As for balancing his work and home life, Mr Perrottet admits it has been tough during the campaign.

Should he be re-elected, Mr Perrottet said he hoped to resume the practice of having time on Saturday for his seven children and Monday “date nights” with Helen.

Mr Perrottet pictured with his wife Helen and their children at their Beecroft home. Picture: Toby Zerna/Office of NSW Premier
Mr Perrottet pictured with his wife Helen and their children at their Beecroft home. Picture: Toby Zerna/Office of NSW Premier

“I’ve got a strong work ethic but, at the same time, obviously, you know, when you’re in a campaign, it’s more intense,” he said.

“And after that there’s things that we need to get done, to implement very quickly to deal with the challenges — the economic challenges — that are coming our way.”

“But, before the campaign, I’ve ­always spent time with the family on Saturday, done a presser on Sunday and had a date night with Helen on Monday.”

Mr Perrottet will head to the battleground seat of Penrith on Sunday, which will be his fifth visit since the start of the election campaign.

Former prime minister John Howard will join the Premier for a rally to help Liberal MP Stuart Ayres.

About 200 guests are expected to attend the “Keep Western Sydney Moving Forward” event, which will be held at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre at Penrith.

CHRIS MINNS’ FINAL PITCH

Opposition leader Chris Minns has admitted the bad old days of the last Labor government damaged the brand — and was still “a big hurdle” for voters to get over — but insists the party had learned its lessons.

A Minns government would be made up of a new group of people committed to public service “and not just enriching themselves”, he said.

And should he deliver Labor a victory on March 25, the work will begin on day one, with Mr Minns declaring there will be “no holidays, no trips up the coast” for his team in the first few months of governing.

Labor leader Chris Minns with students from Wentworthville Tamil Study Centre. Picture: Jane Dempster
Labor leader Chris Minns with students from Wentworthville Tamil Study Centre. Picture: Jane Dempster

As Mr Minns enters his final week of campaigning, two former Labor ministers — Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald — are behind bars, serving sentences for misconduct in public office.

While Mr Minns said he believed Labor had built up public trust “particularly over this term of parliament”, the events of that time damaged the Labor brand, he said.

“Undeniably— that is absolutely the case,” Mr Minns said.

“And a lot of people still remember that. It’s a big hurdle for people to get over. And I’ve never demanded that they do. I fully recognise that is a concern for people.

“But we have learned the lessons of 12 years in opposition and it was a lesson taught to us by the voters of NSW.

“We know that we have to act swiftly and quickly if there’s any incidents or any kind of re-emergence of that kind of behaviour, and also ensure that we’ve got our corruption fighting watchdogs that are fully funded and independently funded.”

With the poll date of March 25 rapidly approaching, Labor has had no debate stumbles or vote-shifting scandals — yet.

Mr Minns concedes there is a lot of pressure on him to deliver a victory but said the campaign had not been as “horrific” as envisaged.

Chris and Anna Minns with sons Nicholas, George and Joseph. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Chris and Anna Minns with sons Nicholas, George and Joseph. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

As for how he will balance his home and work life if he becomes premier, Mr Minns said he believed the workload would remain the same — although more under a spotlight.

“As leader of the opposition, you are busy — it’s probably a different kind of work, but it is pretty relentless and close to seven days a week, or at least six and a half days a week,” he said.

“It does have a big impact on the family, obviously, and, well you’re more in the spotlight.

“But yeah, look, I coached my oldest two boys’ soccer teams and I haven’t been able to make to any of my youngest boys’ sport this year so that’s pretty tough. But what do you do? You just gotta keep going.

“I’m not going for this job so that I can, you know, take my foot off the accelerator. I realise it’s going to be tough.”

As for what his first priorities are should he become premier, energy security and cost of living were “the absolute immediate priority”.

“We’ll have to get straight into it, hit the ground running, because with the cost of living crisis, and with the immediate concerns of energy, we won’t have a second to lose.”

Mr Minns said a Labor government will differ from the Coalition in that it will shift from the focus from “physical capital” — infrastructure projects — to “human capital”.

“We’re gonna focus on people — you can’t run public services without people,” he said.

“There’s no replacing a teacher at the front of a classroom, or a nurse who’s got the skills to understand what’s in his or her emergency department, and that’s been absolutely neglected by the government. “

“Unless we start dealing with people skills crisis, particularly in essential services, then we’re not going to turn around our schools and ­hospitals.”

As for private development, a ­future Minns government would make the approvals process easier, with a quicker yes or no.

A future Minns government would also differ from the existing Coalition government in its internal discipline, especially among the leadership group.

“It doesn’t always agree on everything, but that’s kind of the point because you want you want to have major decisions stress-tested by the senior leadership,” he said.

“So perhaps an under-reported part of how the opposition’s worked has been (how) harmonious (it has been) … very disciplined, a tight little unit at the top that hasn’t leaked, and has been able to have very frank discussions right the way through the last two years.”

Mr Minns’ detractors say he is adopting a small-target strategy that he hopes will see him roll out of bed and over the line on Saturday, pointing to how Mr Perrottet has been splashing cash compared with Labor’s more restrained policies.

Far from “a strategy”, Mr Minns said the restraint was based on a realisation a future Labor government could be landed with $200 billion worth of debt: “The idea that some future generation will have to pay off all this debt, it just doesn’t occur to them”, he said of the Coalition.

“I’m looking at a situation where I could inherit the largest debt ever handed from one treasurer to another in the history of NSW, and I’m saying we’ve got to have restraint here because at some point, someone’s going to have to pay this off.”

As for some voters still not knowing who Chris Minns was, the Labor leader said: “If we win, that’s going to change pretty rapidly”.

Got a news tip? Email linda.silmalis@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/state-election/major-parties-hold-rallies-less-than-a-week-before-nsw-election/news-story/ed3216c5e6865182112a50faeeddb577