When asked if Labor can win the swathe of seats it needs to claim the NSW election, Opposition Leader Chris Minns throws his hands up and laughs.
"On good days I can see them," he said.
Mr Minns is more aware than anyone that the path to victory on March 25 could be insurmountable for his party, which has been in the electoral wilderness for 12 years.
The opposition needs to pick up nine seats to win majority government.
But Mr Minns believes majority government is possible.
"For some reason I just get the sense that it will be a decisive result one way of the other.
"Now, that's not me predicting that I'm going to win."
The 43-year-old has been the opposition leader for just over 18 months.
He had made no secret of his leadership ambitions in his relatively short time in public office, attempting to claim the party's top job twice before he was successful.
The father-of-three was elected as the member for Kogarah, in Sydney's south, in 2015.
He came close to losing the seat in the 2019 election when there was a 5 per cent swing to the Liberals.
After a boundary shift ahead of this year's election, the margin has been reduced to 0.1 per cent, which makes it the slimmest in the state.
"I wouldn't run for any other seat. I'd rather not be in parliament if I couldn't be the member for Kogarah," Mr Minns said.
He also added it's unlikely Labor will win the election "if we don't win Kogarah".
If the party does pull off a victory on March 25, he says improving public education will be a priority of a Minns government.
"If there's one single issue that defines us and needs immediate help and attention it's education."
The opposition leader's father, John, is a retired primary school teacher who rose to become principal of two public schools in Sydney.
"He said it was a vocation. You do it because you believe in the next generation of Australians."
Mr Minns insists a Labor government would pay teachers more than they are earning now because it plans to scrap the public sector wage cap and renegotiate a pay deal with the teachers union.
The opposition's pledge to abolish the government's controversial public sector cap on wage increases, is a significant point of difference for Labor.
Another is female representation within its ranks.
If elected, women would make up 48 per cent of the Labor frontbench and 50 per cent of the leadership team.
"I don't want to have a big celebration party for the fact that we've got 50 per cent representation in the leadership or the shadow cabinet and the eventual cabinet if we win the election.
"If you want to lead a modern political party it needs to look like the electorate that you hope to represent."
Shadow Education Minister Prue Car, who represents the Western Sydney seat of Londonderry, is his deputy, while the Shadow Environment Minister Penny Sharpe is the leader of the opposition in the upper house.
Summer Hill MP Jo Haylen will also be a senior minister in the transport portfolio, if Labor is elected.
"They're at the centre of every decision we make," he said.
In the Perrottet government, six of his 24-member cabinet are women.
Three are Liberals and three are Nationals.
The National women hold the most seniority in cabinet — Regional Health and Women Minister Bronnie Taylor is the party's deputy leader, and Sarah Mitchell is the education minister.
As the opposition leader prepares to potentially take the state's top job, he identified former prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating— as well as former NSW premier Neville Wran — as past Labor leaders worthy of emulation.
"They made positive change," he said.
"My colleagues and myself, we want to aspire to be a great government not just one that falls over the line."
Mr Minns has been a member of the Labor Party since he was a child, and believes it's a "great cause for social progress in Australia".
He has been the subject of some criticism recently for his stance in the debate about a cashless card for poker machines to reduce problem gambling and money laundering.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has committed to cashless gaming.
Labor has released a plan for gambling reform which includes a trial of going cashless on 500 of the state's 87,000 poker machines.
Mr Minns insists a 12-month trial is necessary before making any commitments, despite the Crime Commission, Unions NSW, religious and charity groups all agreeing that cashless gaming is the way forward.
"I guess all I can say is that if we do get elected we'll make sure that we've got an evidence based approach to major reform."
Labor hasn't held power since 2011, after it was booted out of government in a landslide to the Coalition.
Since then, two former MPs, Eddie Obied and Ian Macdonald, have been jailed for misconduct in public office and there have been several ICAC investigations.
"The voters were right to condemn Labor during that period.
"There's been some terrible behaviour from New South Wales Labor members that have let the community down."
But Mr Minns says the party has learnt its lessons and is determined not to repeat them.
"Only time in office will exorcise those demons because people are going to have to see us in executive office to see that we have changed."
The legacy of the 2011 election has forced Labor to claw its way back, seat-by-seat, to get the party within reach of victory.
There are nine seats to go and seven weeks to convince the electorate.
