NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian is being urged to release the details of a public sector audit which she says backs her case for a smaller government.
The treasurer has revealed the state government is looking at reducing its entities - including departments, agencies, state-owned corporations boards, committees and trusts - in an efficiency drive which could see public sector jobs slashed.
A recent audit of government structures commissioned to find ways of making "our processes leaner and more efficient" identified 870 separate government entities, Ms Berejiklian said.
"Many of these identified bodies overlap in terms of the function they perform," she said in a speech to The Sydney Institute on Monday night.
"There is opportunity here to reduce this number. Not for the sake of it - but because it will reduce waste, streamline decision making and make government work better."
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Shadow treasurer Michael Daley said the foreshadowed cuts and the treasurer's plan to consolidate departments will lead to fewer services and a sell-off of more public assets.
"This is straight out of the Liberal playbook; sack staff, run down the services and then sell services off or close them down," Mr Daley said in a statement.
He's called on the government to release the full audit report and reveal "which public sector services are in the firing line".
Unions have meanwhile criticised the potential cuts as a "short-sighted ploy".
"This state government sees our public services as a giant monopoly board to be divided, packaged and sold to their mates in the private sector," Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said.
"The state's public services have been cut to the bone and the public is feeling that. Further deep cuts are the last thing NSW needs."
Ms Berejiklian defended the government's plan in her address to the conservative think thank on Monday, saying it would improve accountability and deliver significant savings which could be poured back into essential services.
"This is not code for reducing the services or infrastructure that governments provide or generate - quite the contrary," she said.
"It is an opportunity for governments to generate more services and infrastructure from limited resources."
The treasurer also revealed that the government is working on a financial management program which will "change the structure of budget and financial practices across the public sector" and allow for the monitoring of the state's financial position in real time.
"The program will also provide greater insights into the results being delivered by the government," she said.
