NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet admits the NSW Liberal party needs to “do better” bringing women into its ranks after falling short of its own gender targets ahead of the state election.

“We need to do better and that’s something that I have made very clear to the organisation,” Mr Perrottet said on Thursday from the key electorate of Parramatta.

Sixteen days out from the state election, the party has finalised its candidates, falling short of its own target of 40 per cent female representation.

“Look, it should be higher,” Mr Perrottet said.

Some 39 per cent of the party’s preselected candidates are women, an improvement from the 2019 election, when 26 per cent of Liberal spots went to women.

Half the Liberals’ upper house ticket is also filled by women after Mr Perrottet intervened in party negotiations last year, ensuring three women took spots from male candidates.

The Liberal Party’s current makeup in the parliament is under one-third female, compared with Labor’s 38 per cent.

“We have made a lot of progress and that’s a positive thing,” Mr Perrottet said.

“We have more women running in Liberal seats than ever before.

“Is it good enough? No.

“We need to do better and we need to do more, and that’s something that I have made very clear to the organisation.”

On the question of embracing a gender quota, Mr Perrottet said the party had targets, which were important.

Mr Perrottet was in Parramatta to announce $30 million in additional funding to boost women’s safety, including better lighting and more CCTV in public spaces.

It came as the NSW Treasury downgraded its forecast for the state budget on Wednesday, saying the deficit is expected to worsen by $1.3 billion over this financial year and the next.

The update shows the estimated deficit for 2022/23 has grown by $668 million to $12.03 billion since the last update in February.

The deficit for the upcoming financial year is forecast at $7.12 billion, an increase of $615 million. This takes the total worsening in the state’s books to $1.3 billion, after Treasury predicted a drop in coal royalty revenue for those two years.

The state’s debt for this financial year has jumped by $798 million to $79.2 billion, compared with the February estimate. That debt is now expected to climb to $108.7 billion by 2024/25, after being upwardly revised by $1.3 billion from the half-yearly review.

The update exposed an alarming deterioration in the state’s finances in the weeks since the most recent budget update, shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey said.

“The cost of our debt is skyrocketing,” Mr Mookhey said.

“In just a few years’ time we’ll be paying more than $7 billion in interest every year, which is about a billion dollars more than expected at the half-yearly budget review.

“We will be paying more in interest than we do to fund the entirety of the NSW Police Force.”

Meanwhile, a potential key player in which party forms the next government has defended her refusal to commit to Labor or the Coalition.

Teal independent Karen Freyer wants to end the Liberal Party’s 78-year stranglehold on the Vaucluse electorate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

But she pushed back during a candidate debate when repeatedly urged to say which party she would support if neither claimed the required 47 seats on March 25.

Polling shows minority government is the most likely outcome.

“I know everyone is desperate to pigeonhole me, but I’m not a politician, I’m an independent,” Ms Freyer told a candidates’ debate on Wednesday.

“I’m not here to represent a political party, I am not aligning myself with a political party.”

– AAP