Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has attacked the Perrottet government at NSW Labor's election campaign launch, saying it is falling apart and "cracking like an imported light rail carriage".
In a speech before the party faithful in Hurstville on Sunday, Mr Albanese said the state had a clear choice on March 25 — between a government "plagued by scandal," and a united, energised party led by visionary Chris Minns.
"Something so much better awaits New South Wales, and it starts with a great leader," he said.
"A leader with vision, a leader with compassion and empathy, a leader guided by fairness and equality and integrity."
He also made reference to the lack of transparency in the state government's allocation of bushfire grants, which saw several Labor seats miss out, and the report into the scheme being referred to the corruption watchdog.
"It still boggles my mind to say this, even stooping so low as to rort bushfire aid. Imagine the deficit of character that it takes to even think of doing that, let alone do it," Mr Albanese said.
"To look at fellow Australians, who have been through hell and left with nothing, and calculating how they might help you secure a political advantage."
NSW Labor has been in the electoral wilderness for 12 years and will need to pick up nine seats to govern in its own right, a task that Mr Minns is up for, according to the prime minister.
"He is the leader that New South Wales need … Labor faces a similar challenge cleaning up after 12 years of Liberal-National neglect," Mr Albanese said.
"In Chris Minns, you have the right leader with the right team ready to put your fresh start plan into action."
In a reinforcement of the campaign issues Labor has been spruiking in recent weeks, Mr Minns's speech focused on health, essential services, skills training, local manufacturing and anti-privatisation.
Education took centre stage, with the Labor leader speaking at length about the role of teachers.
"Education is more important than money, than an inheritance, more important than a title, or a block of land – it’s the gift of an unlimited future," he said.
"Don't let anyone ever tell you that a computer program or an app on a smart phone, or a website can take the place of that teacher. You can't replace them."
In a policy pledge to young people, he said Labor would hire an extra 1,000 apprentices and trainees within state-run agencies.
"My message to the next generation of young Australians is clear, we back you and under a Labor government, your potential is unlimited."
More than $93 million will go towards setting the employment target by 2026 for state government organisations like Sydney Water, Essential Energy and National Parks and Wildlife Services.
Mr Minns says, "with Labor, we can skill up New South Wales" to help address the current worker shortage and get more young people into work.
The party has already announced a guarantee that 70 per cent of the vocational education budget goes to TAFE, with plans to build three TAFE centres of excellence in the Hunter, Illawarra and Western Sydney.
"Labor will boost the value of vocational education and TAFE, and ensure we build the skilled workforce New South Wales needs — and we'll hire them too," Mr Minns said.
Minister for skills and training Alister Henskens criticised Labor's budget guarantee, saying it is less than the current funding arrangement.
"This year, the NSW Liberal and Nationals government is investing a record budget in TAFE NSW, with 74 per cent of our record $3.1 billion skills budget going to TAFE NSW," he said.
"Our record investment in TAFE NSW has meant that 46 per cent of the nation's TAFE enrolments are here in NSW."
"Under the new model, all schools will receive a subsidy for externally delivered VET, with 50 per cent to 90 per cent of their tuition fees covered."
There were nearly 65,000 new apprenticeships across the state in the last financial year — a 2.4 per cent increase on the previous year, according to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
That is about a 40 per cent decline compared to a decade ago.
In 2012, there were about 108,200 apprenticeship commencements across the state, according to NCVER data.
"We want to give more young people more opportunities to learn new skills, to get good paying jobs and begin to fill the skills shortage," Mr Minns said.
The party leader also made other election pledges around health, including university scholarships for thousands of medical practitioners and an investment of $70 million towards building three regional helicopter ambulance bases.
It follows the opposition's commitment to hiring an additional 500 paramedics for rural and regional NSW as well as to upgrade multiple hospitals in Western Sydney.
Anti-privatisation platform
Last month, the ALP announced it would allocate $1 billion to create a state-run energy body which would work with the private sector to develop renewable projects like community batteries and pumped hydro.
Mr Minns reinforced that Sydney Water, Hunter Wanter, Essential Energy and the remaining electricity assets would never be sold under a Labor government.
"Because, once they're gone, and you've sold off everything else, how do you build for the future?" he asked.
It has also promoted itself as pro-local manufacturing having previously promised plans to locally build the next set of trains to replace the ageing Tangara fleet, and 84 zero-emissions buses to take people to the Western Sydney airport.
If elected, the party will scrap several major projects the Coalition government has already announced.
It includes the Northern Beaches Link, raising the Warragamba Dam wall and an 11km stretch of tunnel from Blackheath to Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains.
Mr Minns also confirmed last week a Labor government would only push ahead with two of the four Metro rail business cases Premier Dominic Perrottet announced in February.
Labor will not proceed with metro extensions to connect the Badgerys Creek airport with Westmead, or link the Southwest Metro from Bankstown to Glenfield.
The Liberal party will officially launch its election campaign next Sunday, March 12.
