In the eight months since Ms Berejiklian took power in mid-January, 43 bills have been made into law.

That's nearly half as many during predecessor Mike Baird's first eight months and two-thirds as much as in the government with the second-shortest list of passed bills: Labor Premier Morris Iemma.

The passage of legislation is only one measure of a government and comparisons between premiers are complicated by what point in the election cycle they take over and because executive work on finance and infrastructure projects isn't reflected in legislative output, experts say.

"But it definitely tells us something about the parliament's workload," said Sydney University political scientist Dr Peter Chen. "It does make you ask: 'What are the MPs doing?'"

While critics on Macquarie Street accuse the Premier of pursuing a classic "small target" political strategy, the government says it has steadily modernised NSW and elevated it to the top economic position among the states.

Dr Chen said the state government had adopted a managerial style from UK conservatives: "Which is wear hi-vis [clothing] and tarmac the entire state from end-to-end.

"The more you do that the more people see you in motion; you look like you're moving forward.

"But the less you legislate the less relevant parliament becomes."

Michael Daley, manager of opposition business in the lower house, said the government was focused on a privatisation program ushered in by Mr Baird and neglected lawmaking: "Most days they run out of work for the Parliament to do by 4pm."

The Premier, who is 18 months away from a state election, has expressed a desire to lead a "long-term reforming government".

"The reforming [state] governments of the 1980s were and 1990s were outstanding but relatively short-lived," she told the National Press Club marking her first hundred days in office.

In a statement, the Premier said the government was delivering more infrastructure than ever before:

"Labor may have passed a lot of bills during their 16 years of mismanagement but they left the state broke and in disrepair.

"In any event, we expect to introduce 15 to 20 new bills into parliament in the next four sitting weeks."

In June Ms Berejiklian announced stamp duty concessions for buyers of first homes under $800,000 and the creation of 21 priority housing precincts.

The government also recently stripped councils of their planning approval powers for larger projects and gave them to independent panels.

Former NSW premier Mike Baird passed 79 pieces of legislation in his first eight months, compared to Berejiklian's 43. Photo: Penny Stephens

The Premier's June budget also contained $12-billion in surpluses, reflecting the rewards of the government's controversial asset-privatisation programs begun under Mr O'Farrell and ratcheted up most recently under her predecessor, with an additional $73 billion infrastructure spending over four years.

But the Premier has also ditched or delayed planned policy changes including the controversial fire and emergency services levy and rural council mergers and, later, those that had fought the state government in court.

A trend towards governments' using omnibus bills rather than separate legislation and use of regulation instead of law has likely decreased the number of bills governments pass over time, experts say.

An unusual rise in Private Members bills during the 50th hung parliament (1991-94) likely inflated the amount of legislation it passed, said the parliament's former historian and author David Clune.