Newly elected DeputyPremier Paul Toole says his has “big shoes to fill” as he takes over the leadership of the National party from John Barilaro.

“I want to thank John Barilaro for the incredible leadership that he has shown as the leader of the NSW Nationals. John, as we know, has been someone who is ferocious. He’s a fighter, and he’s been a champion of the bush,” he said.

Mr Toole said the first thing he did after being elected deputy premier in a party room meeting this morning was to contact Premier Dominic Perrottet.

As the new leader, Mr Toole said he wants to make sure the government gets “back to work, and it’s business as usual”.

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He said his new deputy Bronnie Tyler was “talented and enthusiastic”.

“She is going to be absolutely brilliant to work with.”

Mr Toole said the focus of government now needed to be on getting kids back to school and seeing businesses open their doors again.

“This is what’s important. And I’ll tell you what I want to do: I want to have a barbie in the backyard and invite a few friends over,” he said.

“I want to go to the pub, I want to have a beer with my mates ... and I’ll tell you one thing that I’ve missed, I haven’t been able to do. I want to give my mum a bloody big hug because I haven’t been up to do that for a long time.”

However, he cautioned against bringing forward the reopening of the state to this weekend, despite NSW’s high rates of vaccination.

“We’re only five days away from Monday, October 11 and I think that’s where we need to understand we’re only talking difference of a few days,” he said.

“It’s about making sure our communities are safe and if we’re going to start making changes at the last minute, I think we have to be very careful.”