This Saturday NSW voters will head to the polls to decide who they want to be the next premier of the state.
Current Premier Dominic Perrottet is going head-to-head with NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns, with weeks of campaigning finally set to come to an end.
Ahead of the election, news.com.au sat down with both leaders and asked them each the same, extremely hard-hitting, rapid-fire questions – revealing a few surprising similarities.
Here are their answers:
What did you have for dinner last night?
Perrottet: Chicken.
Minns: We had chicken curry, [my wife] Anna made it.
What is your worst habit?
Perrottet: Probably leaving my clothes around the house.
Minns: Not putting my gym gear in the laundry bin.
If you could ban one thing for good, what would it be?
Perrottet: Cash in pokie machines.
Minns: The Broncos.
What is your grocery store of choice out of Coles, Woolies, IGA or Aldi?
Perrottet: Woolies because it’s just down the road.
Minns: Woolies in Kogarah.
What is your biggest phobia?
Perrottet: I don’t like snakes.
Minns: Snakes.
If you won $100 million in the lottery tomorrow, would you tell anyone?
Perrottet: No.
Minns: I think it would be hard to keep that one under wraps. Yeah I probably would, why not?
What is the one thing you like the most about your opponent?
Perrottet: I think he is a genuine guy who is in politics for the right reasons and he is just a decent, good bloke.
Minns: He is a very good father.
We also asked both leaders what they thought was the biggest challenge facing NSW over the next 12 months.
Mr Perrottet said it was going to be all about the rising cost of living and helping the Aussies who are being hit the hardest.
He said, while NSW is in a strong position as a state, there are “economic challenges in front of us”.
In response, he said his party is trying to “help families budgets” through things like Back to School vouchers, Active Kids vouchers and Creative Kids vouchers to ensure families can continue to invest in their children.
“We want to help with the cost of sport, the cost of swimming lessons and it’s all there. It’s all available on Service NSW,” Mr Perrottet said.
“That’s the real challenge, I think going forward, and it’s all tied to the challenging economic situation we’re in. But we’ll get through it and we’ve got the plan to do it.”
He urged anyone who is struggling under the current economic situation to go to the Service NSW website to see what measures are available to help.
“There’s a whole range of measures there, including that $250 off everyone’s energy bill. But in addition, I’d say if you’re really doing it tough, reach out to a financial counsellor,” Mr Perrottet said.
“We made an announcement to give extra support, an additional 100 financial counsellors are coming on in NSW.”
For Mr Minns, he believed the health system and rising energy prices were some of the biggest areas of concerns for the state.
“We don’t live too far from St George Hospital. We’ve got a lot of friends that work up there,” he said.
“Nurses and paramedics and our hospital cleaners and orderlies all say they thought that Covid was the most difficult period, but the period after that has been a real challenge for them.”
Mr Minns noted that many of the people they speak to have said they are looking to get out of the health profession altogether because of how challenging it has been.
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“So we feel for it. It’s not just academic for us – it’s our friends, it’s our local community, the people who are propping up the health system,” he said.
He also noted Labor was committed to helping ease the cost of rising energy bills, with the Energy Relief Fund meaning eligible NSW households will receive up to $500 to go towards electricity bills.
NSW small businesses will also receive $315 off their energy bill, with eligible businesses seeing that bumped up to $630 when matched by funding from the Commonwealth Government’s rebate scheme.
Read related topics:NSW State Election 2023ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ7zZqroqeelrlwutKwZJqbpGS9sLjIraCcq1%2Bmwqa%2F06Kmp6tdp7K3scClZKyhnZ65or7IraCeq12XsrXDxJ6lZpyforavtcJmp56qoqTBtbHTZpinnF2YtbO10makoqaeqHyvsdasZKysn6fGcICUnm5qmWNrhXWDlWmanp2TmX11gJOab3FsYm2FcYXF