Stephen Lawrence and Josh Black say new Labor government will be a 'win' for Dubbo

"The new Labor government is going to govern for everyone in NSW and Chris Minns was very clear about that in his victory on Saturday night," said local lawyer Stephen Lawrence, who looks set to secure a seat for Labor in the NSW Upper House.

"I think we'll see a new focus on the restoration and the quality of basic services like health and education."

"What this election heralds is an end to the pork-barrelling approach to government of the Nationals where you run down basic services to divert money to discretionary expenditure which is not based on the best community and social outcomes."

Labor's candidate for Dubbo Josh Black - who earned 24 percent of the primary vote on Saturday - said Labor's reforms in the public education and healthcare sectors could lead to big boosts in staffing numbers at struggling local schools and hospitals.

"You've also got the issue of school staffing, trying to buck the trend on that. It's been going down for twelve years, it's a real crisis - it's the same in hospitals," he said.

"We know that nurses, teachers and even paramedics have been going to Victoria and Queensland because of better pay and conditions in those states - it's been a loss for the NSW public service."

To boost the number of teachers across the state, Labor is promising to transition 10,000 temporary teaching positions into permanent roles and spend $400 million to establish a future fund to invest in new teachers and school counsellors.

Labor is also promising to conduct an audit of all administrative tasks teachers have to do in order to deliver a reduction in their workload.

To tackle the shortage of nurses and midwives, Labor says they will introduce the minimum and enforceable safe staffing levels in public hospitals which members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association have been calling for.

They also plan to recruit an additional 1,200 nurses and midwives and set aside funding to employ 500 new paramedics over the next four years.

"It's not going to be turned around immediately, this is a four year project. But there's a plan there which will take time and Labor will get there through this first term of government," Mr Black said.

Another bold promise Labor made in the lead up to the election was to scrap the three percent public sector wage cap. Mr Lawrence said this will mean local teachers and healthcare workers will now be able to begin negotiating pay rises.

"You cannot, in effect, impose pay cuts on people in an inflationary environment. We've seen the impact of this mistaken approach when we look for example at the terrible teacher shortage," he said.

"It's really difficult even at the best of times to recruit people to work in country NSW [..] so that effective wage cap has had a disproportionate effect out here and that's why in very recent times, for example, Delroy High has seen some of the highest vacancy rates in the state."

Mr Black, a teacher at a local high school himself, agreed lifting the wage cap will help tackle the shortage. He said he's confident the government will deliver on this promise.

"People need fair wage rises to cope with inflation and bear the cost of living. I fully expect Chris Minns will deliver on that promise because people voted for it and they deserve to get it and they need it," agreed Mr Black.

With housing prices soaring, finding ways to help people secure affordable homes is also high on Labor's agenda.

They're promising to introduce a target of 30 percent affordable housing on surplus public land, to outlaw evictions from rental properties unless they are on reasonable grounds and to make it easier for renters to have pets.

Mr Lawrence said while housing affordability is a complicated issue which involves all three levels of government, he thinks Labor's suite of policies will make it easier for families in Dubbo to find a home.

"No individual measure is going to in and of itself transform this housing issue. We need the full suite of policies and we went to the election with a large number," he said.

"I am sure whoever is selected to be housing minister is going to get cracking straight away because it's such an important issue and that's why it was so front and centre in the election campaign."

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