A TURF war between two senior NSW government ministers could be resolved in the coming days.
The Nationals' Katrina Hodgkinson has loudly voiced her intention to run against Liberal Pru Goward in the seat of Goulburn at the next state election, due early in 2015.
Ms Hodgkinson, the NSW primary industries minister, said last month she would nominate for pre-selection for the seat after her electorate of Burrinjuck was abolished in a redistribution.
The Liberal Party warned off its junior coalition partner from contesting Goulburn, saying Ms Goward, the family and community services minister, was "entitled" to run as she is a serving minister.
Ms Goward says her cabinet colleague's decision threatened to inflame tensions between the parties and could even force the Liberals to "re-examine" the coalition agreement.
Premier Barry O'Farrell says he expects a decision on the matter "shortly".
"I expect there to be an announcement in the next week or so," he told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
Officials from the Liberal and National parties met on Friday to discuss the seat and how it might affect the coalition agreement for the 2015 election.
AAP understands the Nationals are keen to maintain the upper house part of the coalition agreement as it stood at the last election, because it would leave them with more winnable seats on the joint coalition ticket.
But Ms Hodgkinson's public comments that she was contesting Goulburn have angered some in the Liberal Party, who are warning the Nationals they could be forced to renegotiate the upper house agreement, which may leave their junior coalition partner with less winnable seats on the ticket.
Liberals argue that only 35 per cent of the new seat of Goulburn comes from Ms Hodgkinson's electorate and that the name has not changed.
The coalition agreement forbids a challenge against a sitting coalition member where the seat name hasn't changed in a redistribution.
Ms Hodgkinson is expected to withdraw her interest in Goulburn and instead run in the new seat of Cootamundra, which was created after a redistribution last year.
Ms Goward and Ms Hodgkinson both enjoyed comfortable wins at the 2011 election, picking up first preference votes of 61.3 per cent and 74.4 per cent respectively.
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