Speaking before the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting Mr Hockey applauded the O'Farrell Government's strategy of privatising public assets and using the capital to help fund new transport projects.

"I want to praise the NSW Government for its approach to recycling of government investment in existing assets into new assets," he said. "The sale of ports, with the proceeds going into new road infrastructure, is a benchmark for the rest of Australia and arguably many countries around the world, and I will be using that as a clear example with G20 finance ministers this weekend."

Australia will use its presidency of the G20 this year to foster stronger global growth and push for infrastructure investment to be a key growth engine. On Saturday night Mr Hockey will host an "investment and infrastructure working dinner" as part of the G20 program. The G20 meeting in Sydney will be a who's who of global finance including the first chairwoman of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde with finance ministers who preside over 85 per cent of the world's economy.

"This is where the rubber hits the road in terms of the future of the world economy and I look forward to meeting with my fellow finance ministers and central bank governors over the next few days as we shape the destiny of the world economy," Mr Hockey said.

State Treasurer, Mike Baird, who joined Mr Hockey in his infrastructure pitch, said Australia was considered an "infrastructure capital of the world" by foreign industry players because of the number of existing assets that are likely to be privatised and the new projects in the pipeline.

Since coming to office in 2011, the O'Farrell Government has privatised the Sydney desalination plant, Port Botany and Port Wollongong and will "recycle" the capital raised to fund new infrastructure projects.

Last week Mr Baird announced the NSW Government would sell Macquarie Generationto AGL Energy for $1.72 billion and the long-term leases of the Port of Newcastle would be finalised before the state budget in June.

Mr Hockey would not be drawn on whether the state government should sell its electricity distribution network - the so called ''poles and wires". He said that was a decision for the NSW government.

Mr Hockey repeated a call for the world's major economies, including the United States, to get off the "morphine" of easy money and embrace reform.

"The quantitative easing that existed around the world was there to address a problem out of the GFC and it has been like morphine - you have to get off it at some point - and it's not easy, it's hard," he said.

In recent weeks some developing country members of the G20 have been critical of the so called "tapering" of stimulus by the US Federal Reserve. Mr Hockey said he expected a "frank and honest" discussion of these controversies.