Incoming premier Gladys Berejiklian is in talks about invigorating the Coalition government ministry with fresh faces ahead of the 2019 election, placing pressure on long-serving, senior ministers to retain their portfolios.
As has long been speculated, some ministers such as Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard are under pressure to keep their portfolios, and the change in leadership from Mike Baird to Ms Berejiklian has likely only intensified the situation.
Both ministers did not provide comment, although Ms Skinner, 72, reportedly threatened to quit and trigger a by-election if she did not continue to have the confidence of Mr Baird, who announced his shock resignation on Thursday.
Ms Berejiklian has yet to be sworn in as 45th premier of NSW, but key groups are drawing up their wish lists, demanding urgent tax reform, more affordable housing, and stronger environmental protections.
While Ms Berejiklian is a known quantity, having been a senior minister in the O'Farrell and Baird governments, her crowning on Monday is being seen as a fresh chance by interest groups to help shape her priorities.
The Willoughby MP has declared she wants to run a "government for everyone", not only maintaining the current pace of action, but going harder on things like infrastructure.
"Infrastructure projects means local schools and local communities; it's not just about mega-projects ... it's about upgrades to hospitals, upgrades to school halls, sporting facilities," she said, according to News Corp.
"People can expect that from me as premier: if there's something to be done, something to be fixed, it'll happen."
Environment and Climate Change
In contrast to her likely deputy, current finance minister Dominic Perrottet, Ms Berejiklian believes in human-induced climate change.
Kate Smolski, chief executive of Nature Conservation Council, said it's been "incredibly disappointed" by the O'Farrell and Baird governments' decisions to roll back environmental protections.
She said Mr Baird took the largest step backwards in more than a generation when he repealed the Native Vegetation Act and the Threatened Species Conservation Act.
"We do recognise Premier Baird put in place a net zero emissions target by 2050 for the state, and if we're going to have any hope of reaching that target, we need to start enacting policies now," she said.
"We need to move away from dirty fossil fuels and into investing in job-creating renewable energy, we need to be smarter in how we use our energy and move towards no new coal mines."
Business and Tax Reform
Stephen Cartwright, chief executive of NSW Business Chamber, applauded Ms Berejiklian for her role in boosting the performance of the state's economy and therefore business confidence, and looked forward to "more of the same".
NSW Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright wants to see changes to stamp duty. Photo: Jessica Hromas
Mr Perrottet has advocated axing stamp duty in favour of a broad-based land tax on all property – a policy Ms Berejiklian baulked at as Treasurer. States are struggling to cover the ballooning cost of health and education services.
Mr Cartwright said the "inefficient and volatile" stamp duty tax needed to be replaced, either by a newly designed land tax or by increasing the GST, depending on the details.
"Now they've done such as great with budget repair, I wonder whether there's scope to be more creative with the way in which we treat the whole payroll tax system," he said.
"We have a fairly uncompetitive payroll tax system when compared to other states, and we need to rethink the disincentives to business growth and the taking on of more employees."
Social Services and Housing
Tracy Howe, chief executive of NSW Council of Social Service, said she hopes the new premier will continue efforts to stop domestic and family violence before it occurs and increase social and affordable housing.
"She needs to put significant investment into housing and homelessness because it makes economic sense to the state to ensure our citizens have a roof over their heads and so there's less pressure on services such as hospitals, refuges, mental health services," she said.
She said one area Mr Baird fell short was investment in early childhood education, particularly for vulnerable and Aboriginal children.
"There's an opportunity to create an early childhood fund that would bring forward high performing early childhood educators in Aboriginal regions, so scaling up and making sure kids are ready for school and connected to communities and not falling through the gaps."
