Newly appointed NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca says he will love his new portfolio, but declined to say how he will go about fixing the state's beleaguered health system.
Vowing that the Iguanas scandal is "in the past", Mr Della Bosca said he was already visiting health facilities and hearing from experts on how the sector could be improved.
However, he said on Tuesday it was too early to give details of his approach.
"I'm not going to shoot from the hip without having seen the black and white on that and having had time to think about it and interrogate it and go through the government processes, but what's important to me ... is tomorrow I start in the hospitals, particularly in the communities where we need to restore faith in our public health system," Mr Della Bosca told ABC Radio.
"Yesterday and today I'm spending time listening to the outstanding leaders in the health system - clinicians, nurses and other people with qualifications to give us directions to re-establish that faith."
Mr Della Bosca said Premier Nathan Rees had his support as party leader and that the new-look cabinet was an "opportunity to re-establish faith in Labor".
Mr Della Bosca was education minister under premier Morris Iemma, a position from which he was stood down earlier this year as police investigated an alleged row involving him, his federal MP wife Belinda Neal, and staff at Iguanas restaurant and bar on the NSW Central Coast.
Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions last week said Mr Della Bosca and his wife had no case to answer over the alleged incident.
"There was an extensive investigation, as far as I'm concerned that's over," Mr Della Bosca said Tuesday.
"This is about the future, it's about the future and my role as the health minister and the contribution I can make to this new government. That's what for me, my main focus in public life is."
Mr Della Bosca said his political experience saw him well placed to take on the challenging portfolio of health.
"I loved being education minister, it was a fantastic job," he said.
"I'm going to love being health minister even more," he said.
