"Today was the last time that John Barilaro addressed the party room as the deputy premier and that was a fairly emotional time," Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders said. "He literally spoke about every single person in the room and his connection, and what he'd been through with each person.

"He really summed up the passion he has for the whole party room, each individual but also for regional areas."

Not wanting to detail too much of what Mr Barilaro said when addressing him, Mr Saunders said "he was very generous in his praise...he's been a great supporter of mine and has great belief in my ability and he talked about that and it was a really nice moment".

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Mr Toole, who had served as deputy to Mr Barilaro since 2019, won the leadership ballot emphatically against Water Minister Melinda Pavey, and Bronnie Taylor MLC will be his deputy.

"Paul is Bathurst born and bred, he's lived in regional NSW, he's been a minister for several different things and most recently for regional roads and transport," Mr Sauders said.

"It's really important to have some continuity there as well, he's been with John as deputy leader now since 2019, and being the deputy leader he's been part of cabinet and crisis cabinet and the expenditure review committee...for us as a team it's an easy transition.

"Bronnie Taylor is just an absolute go-getter...the Toole-Taylor team is a pretty bloody good team I can tell you."

Mr Saunders said Mr Barilaro's departure was like "losing a family member", but the party was ready to focus on the future. While acknowledging that opening up would mean a rise in COVID cases, he said there was no way to avoid it.

"I think everyone wants to know that Christmas in 2021 will be something we can actually enjoy together with family, with friends and know that heading into 2022 we've got a really bright future.

"For the Nats, it's obviously all about regional areas - places like Dubbo opening up and having visitors by their thousands again, that's what we need."

NSW Parliament resumes sitting next week.

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