NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s biting response to opponent’s dinner date invite

There will be no love lost in the knife-edge NSW election with Premier Gladys Berejiklian shooting down her opponent’s offer on live radio.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian shot down Opposition Leader Michael Daley as they sat down together on the Kyle and Jackie O Show ahead of this weekend’s knife-edge state election.

Host Kyle Sandilands asked if the pair knew each other well, and Mr Daley admitted they “see each other across the table” but “don’t socialise”.

The Labor leader then extended an offer: “Will we have dinner after the election?”

Ms Berejiklian quickly told him: “No ... I’ll be busy.”

As the group laughed, Jackie O commented: “Shut down!”

Mr Daley didn’t forget the rebuke. When Kyle later said he liked to encourage people with different opinions to “make out”, the Opposition Leader replied: “I’ve got no chance, she won’t even have dinner with me, Kyle.”

“I’m just being honest,” answered the Premier.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is neck-and-neck with Opposition Leader Michael Daley ahead of Saturday’s state elections. Picture: Toby Zerna

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Saturday’s vote is set to be a close contest, with polls showing Labor and the Coalition are neck-and-neck.

A YouGov-Galaxy survey published by The Daily Telegraph today shows the major parties are split at 50 per cent each on a two-party preferred basis, increasing the likelihood the winner will have to negotiate with the crossbench to form a majority government.

The Coalition’s primary vote is at 41 per cent, against Labor on 38 per cent. The NSW Greens have nine per cent of the primary vote, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is on three per cent and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is on one per cent.

Ms Berejiklian is narrowly ahead of Mr Daley as preferred leader at 38 per cent to 36 per cent.

“It’s like going into a job interview with eight million people deciding,” Ms Berejiklian told Kyle and Jackie O. “It’s like eight million people deciding whether I get to keep my job.”

Labor leader Mr Daley has faced accusations of racism after a video showed him saying Asians were ‘taking jobs’ from young Australians. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Challenges for the NSW Premier include her government’s slow development of public transport, unpopular lockout laws and plans to knock down Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.

But Mr Daley has endured a backlash over a “racist” video showing the Labor leader warning that Asians are “taking jobs’’ from young Aussies, and NSW Labor is also haunted by past scandal.

Mr Daley has pledged $2.7 billion to fund public schools by 2027, while Ms Berejiklian promised more teachers, mental health services and after school care, and said hospital staffing remained a priority, pointing to $8.4bn spent on hospitals over the past eight years.

The candidates addressed the lockout laws debate during their radio segment, with Ms Berejiklian explaining that revellers simply needed to “at 1.30, 2 o’clock, choose where you want to spend the night” to deal with the curfew. “A few years ago there were some horrible incidents where people died,” she said. “When you have my job, the first thing you think about is keeping everybody safe.”

Mr Daley said Labor would “look into this big time”, and that he had appointed a “shadow minister for music and the night-time economy”.

He added: “Young people think that this government has been way too hard on festivals, they won’t look at other solutions to keep people safe. I think there’s a bit too much of a heavy hand on young people particularly.”

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull will join the NSW Liberal campaign ahead of Saturday’s vote to shore up votes in Sydney’s east, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Mr Turnbull will be supporting Ms Berejiklian’s re-election and the Liberal candidate for the marginal seat of Coogee, Bruce Notely-Smith, who is facing a possible defeat by Labor’s Marjorie O’Neill.