NSW election debate: Asset selling front and centre for voters

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has struggled to defend the ­Coalition’s record of privatisation in front of 100 undecided voters in the final debate of the campaign.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, right, and Labor leader Chris Minns at the last debate in Penrith on Wednesday night. Picture: Justin Lloyd

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has struggled to defend the ­Coalition’s record of privatisation in front of 100 undecided voters in the final debate of the campaign.

In what may be an ominous sign for the Coalition, privatisation was front and centre at the fifth debate of the election campaign, with the audience of The Daily Telegraph and Sky News People’s Forum repeatedly pressing both leaders on the issue.

Labor leader Chris Minns said the election revolved around two key questions: restoring the state’s education and health system, and who would not sell off publicly owned assets.

The latter proved prescient as Mr Perrottet faced repeated questions on the ­Coalition’s asset recycling program. One audience member asked for reassurance the government would not sell off any more assets “which belong to all of us”; another questioned how the Premier would address the cost of tolls for families on privatised motorways.

With the debate in Penrith, a marginal Liberal seat, Mr ­Perrottet was forced to defend the ­Coalition’s history of asset ­recycling, pointing to the government’s infrastructure pipeline, while simultaneously and repeatedly promising that his government would not seek to privatise anything more if he were re-­elected.

Conversely, on fertile ground, Mr Minns was offered a platform to spruik Labor’s policies, ­continuing his scare campaign in claiming the government would look to sell off Sydney Water if they were given four more years.

“The problem with privatisation is as soon as you’ve sold everything off and you’ve got nothing else to sell, how do you build for the future of NSW?” he said.

“My big fear is they’ll repeat the habit of a lifetime. Once the polls close. If they’re re-elected. Sydney Water is out the door next, and I don’t think the state can afford it.”

Mr Minns asked Mr Perrottet whether he regretted his decision to freeze public sector wages during the pandemic. The Premier said the decision was necessary as the state grappled with the costs of the health crisis.

“Sometimes in politics you’ve got to make difficult decisions that are unpopular,” he said. “That was a very difficult time for our state.”