NSW Premier Mike Baird concedes it may be very tough for the Liberal Party to retain two NSW seats vacated by disgraced former Liberal MPs Andrew Cornwell and Tim Owen.
Former Newcastle MP Mr Owen quit parliament this week after confessing to lying to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and ex-Charlestown member Dr Cornwell resigned after admitting to receiving $20,000 from banned developers.
Both seats, in the state's Hunter region, have traditionally been held by the Labor Party and are expected to return to the ALP in upcoming by-elections.
Mr Baird was asked on Thursday if he was confident of retaining the seats.
"I can understand that those communities are feeling very upset, betrayed and appalled," he told reporters in Sydney.
"I understand that that would be a very tough thing to do."
He said the Speaker of House Shelley Hancock would announce "in due course" when the by-elections would be held.
Opposition Leader John Robertson said he took nothing for granted when it came to the by-elections.
He said the ICAC revelations had left people in Charlestown and Newcastle "very angry and extremely disappointed".
"They put their faith in the Liberal Party ... that said it would end the scandal, that it would be whiter than white," he told reporters on Thursday.
"What we've seen playing out at the ICAC in the last few days, those people feel betrayed, and rightly so."
The Liberal Party holds Newcastle on a 2.6 per cent margin and Charlestown on 9.9 per cent.
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