Labor ready for work with gender-balanced NSW cabinet

The newly elected NSW government will be spearheaded by a lean, gender-balanced cabinet that its leader says finally reflects the wider community.

For the first time, the state's cabinet will have an equal mix of men and women - including the portfolios of energy, police, finance, regional NSW and regional transport assigned to women for the first time.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said Labor wanted the cabinet to reflect the fact that 50 per cent of the population was female.

"We're not popping champagne corks or launching fireworks in relation to that - it should just happen naturally. We live in 2023," he said on Tuesday.

The ministry has been cut to 22, down from 26 in the previous government, with the premier saying he wants a "trim, focused government that's delivering for the people of NSW".

It will also be the first time a woman has led the government in the upper house and Penny Sharpe will also take on the portfolios of energy and climate change, and environment and heritage.

Ms Sharpe honoured the work of Labor women who fought to implement a quota in 1994, including Julia Gillard, Penny Wong and Joan Kirner.

"It's not enough to have a target. You need to have rules and you need to be committed," she said.

"This is the first cabinet that has 50 per cent women in this state, but I would hope that we get to 50 per cent women across the entire parliament."

Jihad Dib, the incoming minister for customer service, emergency services and youth justice, will be the first member of cabinet sworn in on the Koran.

"There's a big, vibrant Muslim community in NSW and we want to make sure that we have a cabinet that looks like the state we represent," Mr Minns said.

It follows Treasurer Daniel Mookhey becoming the first sworn in on the sacred Hindu text Bhagavad Gita.

The Minns government will govern in minority with 45 or 46 seats but with confidence and supply guaranteed by independent MPs Alex Greenwich, Greg Piper and Joe McGirr.

Mr Piper, the member for Lake Macquarie, is set to be the next Speaker, a position the Legislative Assembly is expected to confirm when parliament returns next month.

The only seat still in doubt since the March 25 poll is Ryde in northwest Sydney, where the Liberal candidate leads Labor by about 200 votes as counting continues.

After unveiling the ministry, Mr Minns said there was "a lot of hard work in front of us".

"But my team and I are up to the challenge," he said.

"One of the reasons we were elected was to invest in the human capital of the state, the teachers, the nurses, the firefighters and the police officers.

"You cannot have a world-class state without world-class essential workers - and that's what we want to invest in."

The premier also vowed to follow through on Labor's election promise to begin a treaty process with the state's Indigenous people.

"Ours is the only state without a movement towards a treaty or voice," he said.

Mr Minns said it would be a complicated process, but his government would not be put off by that complexity.

"It just needs to be remembered that it could be signing a treaty with over 150 different nations," he said.

"That's a big task, but we believe we have the personnel to begin."