Baird's coalition gov't win Australia's NSW state election

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Mike Baird's Coalition government has been re-elected Saturday despite a big swing to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the state election.

NSW ALP leader Luke Foley conceded defeat on Saturday night and told supporters that voters thought it is too soon for Labor to return to government.

"Right through this campaign Mike Baird and I have both ensured that it was never personal. I want to thank Mike for the way he's conducted himself during the course of this campaign," he told supporters.

"A majority of voters have decided that now is too soon for Labor to return to government. I understand their decision and I accept it. But friends, the people of NSW have breathed new life into state Labor today."

With more than 60 percent of the votes counted, the Coalition, which is a partnership of the Liberal and National parties, is on track to win 53 seats. It needed 47 to win government. Meanwhile the ALP is set to win 31, the Greens four, and Independents two seats.

Despite the Baird government's win, the ALP enjoyed a 10 percent swing after winning only 20 seats at the last election in 2011.

According to pollsters, Baird will retain his Sydney seat of Manly with 68.7 percent of the primary vote, while Foley also won his seat of Auburn, which is also in Sydney.

Baird told his supporters that the people of NSW have chosen hope over fear and his government had a "a mandate to make NSW great".

He said Foley had been a tough opponent, and "appreciated his gracious words" when conceding defeat.

"Over the past four years, we have focused on delivering for this community built on trust, doing what we said we were going to do," he said.

A core platform of Baird's campaign was the privatization of the state's electricity, in which the government plans to lease 49 percent of NSW's power assets over a 99-year period.

The ALP opposed the privatization plan, and an Australian union ran an advertising campaign that claimed the government was planning to sell the electricity assets to China's State Grid Corporation, and had "secret meetings" to discuss the deal.

Liberal MPs and the Race Discrimination Commissioner described the campaign as anti-Chinese and xenophobic, and Australian business leaders said the ads threatened trade relations between Australia and China.

However Baird on Saturday night told supporters that his government had survived this campaign, and there was new hope for local people.

"We decided to be open with the people of NSW and in that we expose ourselves to a big scare campaign and I believe it was a biggest scare campaign in state election. Shame," he said.

Baird said the government had lost some good MPs because of the scare campaign against the leasing plan, and said his government would not make it easy against Labor at the next election.

"I have heard some talk tonight about Labor being back in the game for the election in 2019," he said.

"Well, let me give you this assurance, in four years we'll be back in those seats we lost, seeking to represent them over the good things we do for the people of NSW over the next four years." Endi