Voters will reward Perrottet's pokies pluck, ex-PM says

As thousands flock to the polls for the NSW election, a former prime minister says voters will mark Dominic Perrottet up for banning cash from poker machines.

John Howard said he hoped the coalition will win a fourth term in office but couldn't be sure of anything except that voters "always get it right".

"They will give Dom Perrottet marks for having the courage, he showed great courage on poker machines," Mr Howard told reporters on Sunday.

It comes as the Public Health Association on Monday condemned Labor for hesitating with a cashless gaming on 500 poker machines.

While the coalition will ban cash on NSW's 86,000 machines by 2028, Labor says more evidence is required before it's mandated.

"We are extremely disappointed that Labor is refusing to realise the opportunity to protect the health and wellbeing of their communities who are being crushed by the gambling industry," the association's state president Kate McBride said.

"Labor's current gambling policy is a disappointing dud worthy of a red light."

Gaming was the sole public health green light for the coalition or Labor, both marked poorly for action on vaping and childhood obesity, and the coalition deemed worse on climate change and preventative health.

Meanwhile, voters on Monday will get their first complete look at the true cost of the major parties' election promises when the independent Parliamentary Budget Office releases budget statements.

But it will be too late for thousands of voters who cast their vote on Saturday - day one of pre-poll.

Two thousand early voting centres, reopening Monday, are expected to be used by about 30 per cent of the state's 5.5 million electors.

Another 480,000 have requested postal voting.

Over the weekend, Labor leader Chris Minns pledged to protect Sydney Water and Hunter Water from snap privatisation, by embedding them into the constitution.

Victoria made a similar move in 2003 to entrench water authorities as public entities, he said.

"Labor also believes that a guaranteed right to a safe, reliable, supply of clean water - provided by the government of this state – should be a constitutionally protected right for the people of NSW," he said on Sunday.

The coalition can't be trusted on their promise to not privatise water assets given their track record on WestConnex and buses, he says.

The coalition plans to win over commuters by slashing the weekly Opal cap to $40 for adults and $20 for concession card holders from May 1.

The policy costs about $1.1 million a week and is expected to particularly benefit commuters working from home twice a week.

The Greens said fares already cover so little so should be scrapped entirely.

"Why not ... deliver a free, high-quality service that the public deserves, and deliver real hip-pocket relief at a time when we're all feeling the pinch?" Greens MP Abigail Boyd said.