Even the narrowest of Coalition victories would represent a mandate to privatise the state's electricity assets, NSW Premier Mike Baird says, rejecting suggestions a sizeable swing against the government would strip it of the right to push through the plan.
Both big parties have framed this month's state election as a referendum on the government's proposal to partially lease the state's electricity "poles and wires".
An estimated $20 billion in proceeds would be used to build significant infrastructure such as a second harbour rail crossing.
Labor has pledged to keep the assets in public hands and deliver what it says is a more prudent $10 billion infrastructure package that would delay the harbour crossing by four years and scrap a proposed road tunnel under Sydney's inner west.
When asked on Wednesday if the government would proceed with the lease even if it suffered a swing of 10 per cent, Mr Baird said: "I consider that if we win the election, we have the mandate.
"We are seeking to win and form government, which means you have to win more seats in the lower house and that's what we are seeking," he said.
Mr Baird said national accounts figures released on Wednesday proved the government was a good economic manager.
NSW's state final demand, a key indicator of economic activity, was the strongest in Australia last year at 3.8 per cent.
"That means more jobs, more confidence, more opportunities for families across this state," Mr Baird said.
Mr Baird spoke on ABC radio earlier in the day, when a listener asked via text message how she could vote for the Liberal Party while opposing the poles-and-wires proposal, saying "it makes it difficult to vote".
Mr Baird said his plan would "deliver … an improvement to every person's daily life in terms of less congestion, less traffic [and] less-crowded trains".
A Fairfax-Ipsos poll last month indicated the government is set to be returned to power but a majority of voters – 67 per cent – opposed the power privatisation plan.
Mr Baird also indicated his government will drop chemotherapy fees charged to cancer patients if re-elected, saying a pledge by the state opposition to scrap the payment "makes sense".
"Obviously, we want to do everything we can to provide less pain to those undertaking chemotherapy [who are] in the battle of their lives," he told listeners.
Meantime, about 200 additional young veterans who leave the military will be found jobs in the NSW public service during the next four years, helping them settle back into civilian life, Mr Baird announced.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Garden Island naval base, he said about 1000 servicemen and women leave the Defence Force each year, taking experience and skills that could be well used in fields such as policing, corrective services and infrastructure delivery.
Veterans Affairs Minister Victor Dominello said anecdotal data suggested young veterans were "struggling to transition" to civilian life once their military careers finished.
"In the defence force, they are dodging bullets all the time, they are in the front line, there is very much a structured way of approaching life … yet sometimes, when they come back to civilian life, those same structures don't exist," Mr Dominello said.
