The NSW Premier and the man who wants his job have accused each other of having “black holes” in their budgets, during their first televised debate ahead of the state election.
Labor Leader Chris Minns said Dominic Perrottet had “been a constant advocate for asset recycling and privatisation his entire professional career”.
“Yet we’re all expected to believe on the eve of an election campaign, he’s all of a sudden decided privatisations are out,” he said during the debate broadcast on the Seven Network on Wednesday.
The comments come after the premier ruled out privatising public assets to fund future infrastructure, saying major projects will be funded through managed state debt.
Mr Minns said NSW was at risk of entering a debt and deficit spiral, after racking up $78 billion in debt during the COVID pandemic, with the Coalition government planning $50 billion in unfunded infrastructure.
Interest payments on that $50 billion could range from $6.8 to $8.6 billion a year, more that it takes to fund the state’s police force, Mr Minns said.
“I don’t believe it’s sustainable and I think that’s one of the leading reasons why the Premier, with his infrastructure black hole, is likely to sell assets rather than go to that level of debt.”
Mr Perrottet hit back, saying: “The only party with a black hole is Labor.”
A Labor government would put the state’s finances at risk with its promise to scrap the cap on public sector wages, which are responsible for about 40 per cent of the state’s expenditure, Mr Perrottet said.
“Chris can’t even tell you how much that will cost.
“We are the only state in this nation with two AAA credit ratings. Our debt position is sustainable and affordable,” Mr Perrottet said.
“That’s what happens under Labor – we stall. We saw that when they were last in office.”
Asked about the Liberal Party’s female representation on International Women’s Day, Mr Perrottet conceded the party needed to up its game.
“I’ve always said we’ve got to do better.”
He was unsure if the party had improved female representation since the last election, as the Liberal Party scrambled to finalise 15 candidates shortly before nominations closed at midday on Wednesday.
Labor has 46 per cent women candidates, while 48 per cent of shadow cabinet members are women and half its leadership team is female.
Less than a third of the NSW Liberal Party’s parliamentary team are women.
“That should just be the norm if you’re running to be the elected government in NSW in the year 2023,” Mr Minns said.
Both leaders said they would not do deals with the Greens if there was a hung parliament after the March 25 vote. Both also ruled out legalising marijuana in the next term of government.
Earlier, Labor announced a $13.8 million specialist service to help women navigate underpayment and sexual harassment would be available in NSW for the first time in 18 years if the party wins government.
It will end an 18-year absence of the centres in NSW by working with the federal government, industry and stakeholders, and providing $2 million to keep them operating at their full potential, Labor says.
Meanwhile, Mr Perrottet announced $7 million for grants to research ovarian and other gynaecological cancers.
“We want to give women affected by these terrible diseases, which often have very poor prognoses, the best chance of survival,” he said.
– AAP
