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AAP
Politics
Phoebe Loomes

Early voting in NSW begins on weekend

Premier Dominic Perrottet couldn't say how much a supply chain commissioner would save shoppers. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

While polls indicate around a quarter of NSW voters have yet to decide which side to back in the hotly contested state election, those whose minds are made up can cast their vote on the weekend.

NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt says early, in-person voting will begin from Saturday, with early voting centres around the state preparing for strong demand in the coming week.

"Voting is compulsory for all enrolled electors in NSW and there are penalties for failing to vote," he said in a statement on Thursday.

He is urging people to use the NSW Electoral Commission website to find information about their electorate, nearest voting or early voting centre, opening times and candidates.

Recent elections held in Australia had seen a marked increase in the number of voters turning out to early in-person.

There has also been strong demand for postal vote applications, with 464,114 received since applications opened in January.

Applications for postal voting packs close at 6pm on Monday.

Early voting centres will operate in each electoral district from Saturday, with the last chance to cast a vote in person being at 6pm on March 25.

Meanwhile, the major party leaders are back on the hustings after a frenetic debate between Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor Leader Chris Minns on Wednesday.

Mr Minns ducked from guaranteeing teachers, police officers and nurses bigger pay packets under his scrapped wage cap plan.

He stopped short of promising them a pay rise above the coalition's limit of three per cent per year if Labor wins.

"If we sit down and we've got strict economic principles in place, then we're happy to negotiate in relation to that," Mr Minns said at the Nine News debate.

Mr Perrottet acknowledged he could not promise to bring down the soaring cost of groceries and was unable to put a dollar figure on the value of his own plan to "drive down grocery costs" with a supply chain commissioner.

He said supply chain obstacles had caused grocery prices to surge and curbing those would bring prices down.

"If we can get produce from port to plate faster, working with the industry, that will put downward pressure on grocery prices."

On the Central Coast, disendorsed Liberal candidate Matt Squires went rogue, releasing a statement on Wednesday urging people in the electorate to vote for him.

Mr Squires was dumped as the Liberal Party's candidate for Wyong on Tuesday over social media posts that included homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-vaccination statements.

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