Australian politician (born 1979)
Christopher John Minns
(born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician serving as the 47th and current
premier of New South Wales
since March 2023. He has been the leader of the
New South Wales branch
of the
Australian Labor Party
(ALP) since 2021 and a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
(MLA) for the district of
Kogarah
since 2015. He was previously the
deputy mayor of Hurstville
from 2007 to 2008.
[4]
Minns was first elected at the
2015 New South Wales state election
, and was elected unopposed as leader of the Labor Party in the leadership election of June 2021, following the resignation of
Jodi McKay
. He led the party to victory at the
2023 state election
.
Early and personal life
[
edit
]
Minns was raised in the
St George region of Sydney
in the suburb of
Penshurst
.
[5]
He studied at
Marist College Kogarah
.
[6]
He holds a bachelor's degree from the
University of New England
in Armidale and attended
Princeton University
in the United States where he was awarded a Masters in Public Policy (2012?13).
[7]
Minns is married and has three sons with his wife Anna. Upon his return from Princeton, while his wife pursued her own business opportunities Minns became the carer of his sons before nominating for parliament.
[8]
Minns has previously worked in the charity sector for a youth mental health charity, as a firefighter, as an advisor in the NSW government and as the assistant secretary of the NSW Labor Party.
He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1998 when he was 18 years old
[5]
and was elected as the member for Kogarah in 2015.
Minns is a supporter of
NRL
club the
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
.
[9]
Minns' father, John, died on the 1 May 2024 after suffering a heart attack. In Minns' inaugural speech, he spoke about his love for his father, and thanked him for bringing Minns into the "Labor tribe".
[10]
Political career
[
edit
]
Minns was first elected to office in 2004 as a Penshurst Ward councillor of the
Hurstville City Council
, and was elected for a term as deputy mayor in 2007?2008; he left council at the 2008 election after serving a single term. He also worked on the staff of
Carl Scully
and
John Robertson
.
[11]
Premier
[
edit
]
In March 2016 a reshuffle of the
shadow ministry
following the resignation of
Linda Burney
resulted in Minns being appointed Shadow Minister for Water, replacing
Mick Veitch
.
Following
Luke Foley
's resignation as NSW Labor leader and leader of the NSW opposition, Minns nominated for the roles. On 10 November 2018 Minns lost the
leadership spill
to
Michael Daley
, 33 votes to 12.
[12]
After the
2019 state election
Minns lost the
leadership election
to
Jodi McKay
on a combined caucus and party membership vote of 60.5% to 39.5%.
[13]
He was appointed to the portfolios of transport and corrections in the
shadow cabinet
.
[14]
2021 leadership challenge
[
edit
]
Following Labor's defeat at the
Upper Hunter by-election
in May 2021 and a possible leadership challenge to McKay, a file titled
Why Chris Minns and Jamie Clements can never run the NSW Labor Party
was circulated from the office of deputy Labor leader
Yasmin Catley
. Minns was disappointed with the lack of explanation or communication from McKay and Catley over the file circulation, and resigned from shadow cabinet on 26 May.
[15]
He was the second MP to resign from shadow cabinet in two days after shadow treasurer
Walt Secord
, a close supporter of Minns.
[16]
On 31 May 2021, after McKay resigned as party leader, Minns announced he would run for party leadership.
[17]
If
Michael Daley
and Minns had contested for party leadership, it would have been Minns’ third
leadership contest
and his second one versus Daley. Minns’ leadership bid was publicly supported by more than a dozen senior Labor MPs including Penny Sharpe, Ryan Park, Jihad Dib, and Prue Car.
[18]
On 4 June 2021, Michael Daley pulled out of the leadership contest, allowing Minns to be elected to the position of leader unopposed.
[19]
Opposition Leader
[
edit
]
In the 2023 NSW election campaign, Minns made election promises to invest further into public services.
[20]
He had been criticised for being reluctant to promise reform on
money laundering
in gambling,
[21]
however on 16 January Minns released a plan to reform gambling, which would ban donations from clubs (gambling organisations) to political parties and promises a cashless gaming card trial, which would last for 12 months and cover 500 of the approximately 86,480 (0.58%)
pokies
machines (slots).
[22]
[23]
2023 election
[
edit
]
Minns led the Labor Party to victory at the
2023 New South Wales state election
on 25 March, defeating the incumbent
Liberal?National Coalition
, returning Labor to power at the state level for the first time since 2011.
[24]
Despite winning the election, Labor did not win enough seats to govern in
majority
, but were able to form government with the support of three
independents
Alex Greenwich
,
Greg Piper
and
Joe McGirr
.
[25]
Premiership
[
edit
]
The
Health Services Union
accused the Minns government of being too slow to remove the current 3 per cent limit on pay rises.
[26]
Political views
[
edit
]
Minns is a member of
Labor Right
,
[27]
and was assistant secretary of the NSW Labor Party. He has been described as a
centrist
.
[28]
In 2003 Chris Minns attended the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council (
AIJAC
) inaugural Rambam trip to Israel, at the time adviser to NSW Minister for Roads and Housing Carl Scully. Attending alongside Minns were former Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
,
Bill Shorten
and the Federal Opposition leader Simon Crean's foreign policy adviser Carl Ungerer.
[29]
In his inaugural speech in the Legislative Assembly, Minns criticised the state government's sale of NSW's electricity assets and called for mandatory
Mandarin Chinese
lessons in New South Wales schools.
[30]
In 2019, Minns argued in favour for the
legalisation of cannabis
during a party meeting but has since walked back this position since becoming premier.
[31]
Minns opposed legislation that would enable
voluntary euthanasia
.
[32]
Views on union influence in the Labor Party
[
edit
]
Additionally, Minns called for a reduction in union influence in the Labor Party in favour of "increasing representation of ordinary members of our party who have more diverse voices", stating that while trade unions were integral to the success and heritage of the Labor Party, the party also needs to represent those who are not in a trade union, and that will mean taking steps to reduce union control on Labor's conference floor.
[33]
Bob Nanva
, national secretary of the
Rail, Tram and Bus Union
, while acknowledging that Minns had been "an extraordinarily effective Assistant General Secretary of the ALP", rebuked him for being "seriously mistaken" on his views about unions.
[34]
Additionally, both
Mark Buttigieg
and NSW Labor Party secretary Jamie Clements disagreed with Minns' contention regarding unions.
[35]
By 2019, Minns reportedly no longer held those views, according to HSU NSW state secretary Gerard Hayes.
[36]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Cormack, Lucy (6 June 2021).
"Who is Chris Minns? NSW Labor's new leader wants to be the next Keating"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
.
- ^
O'Doherty, James (15 July 2021).
"Chris Minns will move into his electorate after selling family home"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
- ^
Chancellor, Jonathan (23 August 2021).
"New state Labor leader Chris Minns pays $1.7m for Kogarah home"
.
news.com.au
. Archived from
the original
on 22 June 2022.
- ^
"Mr (Chris) Christopher John MINNS, MP"
.
Members of the
Parliament of New South Wales
. Retrieved
15 December
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Ruby Cornish (25 March 2023).
"Who is Chris Minns? What you need to know about the incoming NSW premier"
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. Retrieved
29 March
2023
.
- ^
Trembath, Murray (23 May 2019).
"Minns says Labor needs 'new generation' leadership"
.
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
Trembath, Murray (23 May 2019).
"Minns says Labor needs 'new generation' leadership"
.
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
"About Chris"
.
www.chrisminns.com.au
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
Chris Minns (4 August 2023).
"I'm a Bulldogs man and you don't change teams - but I couldn't say no to a jersey from these Juniors"
.
Twitter
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
"NSW premier's father dies days after suffering heart attack"
.
ABC News
. 1 May 2024
. Retrieved
6 May
2024
.
- ^
"NSW Election 2015 ? Kogarah"
.
ABC News
. March 2015
. Retrieved
31 March
2015
.
- ^
"NSW Labor elects paperboy turned lawyer Michael Daley as new leader"
.
ABC News
. 10 November 2018
. Retrieved
10 November
2018
.
- ^
"Jodi McKay wins NSW Labor leadership from Chris Minns after three-month process"
.
ABC News
. 29 June 2019.
- ^
"McKay unveils new Shadow Ministry"
. NSW Labor. July 2019.
- ^
Nguyen, Kevin; Collins, Antonette (26 May 2021).
"Chris Minns quits NSW shadow ministry, Labor staffer sacked over 'dirt dossier'
"
. ABC News.
Archived
from the original on 26 May 2021
. Retrieved
26 May
2021
.
- ^
Davies, Anne (26 May 2021).
"NSW Labor in turmoil as Jodi McKay's leadership rival Chris Minns quits frontbench over dossier"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 26 May 2021
. Retrieved
26 May
2021
.
- ^
"Chris Minns officially enters NSW Labor leadership battle"
. ABC News. 31 May 2021
. Retrieved
31 May
2021
.
- ^
Turnbull, Tiffanie (3 June 2021).
"Labor MPs rush to publicly support Minns"
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
Raper, Ashleigh (4 June 2021).
"Kogarah MP Chris Minns to be NSW Opposition Leader after Michael Daley pulls out"
.
ABC News
. Retrieved
4 June
2021
.
- ^
"Labor's Fresh Start Plan for NSW"
.
Chris Minns
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
Livingstone, Charles (21 December 2022).
"NSW Pokies: Bipartisan support needed from Labor's Chris Minns on cashless gaming"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
Rabe, Tom (16 January 2023).
"Labor to slash pokie numbers and back a mandatory cashless gaming trial"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
"Labor's cashless gaming trial to include 0.58% of all pokie machines as they release gambling policy"
.
6 News Australia
. 17 January 2023
. Retrieved
8 March
2023
.
- ^
Rabe, Tom (25 March 2023).
"
'NSW has voted for change': NSW Labor returns from the wilderness"
.
Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
26 March
2023
.
- ^
Wade, Matt; Cormack, Lucy (27 March 2023).
"Majority government in the balance as independents promise Labor supply"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
4 April
2023
.
- ^
"Chris Minns fends off fight with union boss, but more combatants are waiting in the wings"
.
ABC News
. 19 May 2023
. Retrieved
22 May
2023
.
- ^
Martin, Lisa (29 June 2019).
"Jodi McKay elected New South Wales Labor leader after tense meeting"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
27 May
2021
.
- ^
https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/which-state-in-australia-has-the-most-political-power-20230725-p5dr8a.html
- ^
Bard, Aviva (28 November 2003).
"Eight Future Australian Leaders see for themselves"
.
National Library of Australia Trove
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (
link
)
- ^
Read, Michael.
"Minns to lead NSW Labor after Daley bows out"
.
Australian Financial Review
. Retrieved
16 July
2022
.
- ^
McGowan, Michael (17 April 2023).
"
'Regulate it': Minns once argued for legalised cannabis in NSW"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
30 May
2023
.
- ^
McGowan, Michael (19 May 2022).
"NSW passes voluntary assisted dying laws after marathon upper house debate"
.
TheGuardian.com
.
- ^
Napier-Raman, Kishor.
"The battle for NSW Labor"
.
Crikey
. Retrieved
16 July
2022
.
- ^
"Work experience with real people is the cure for 'out of touch' pollies"
.
SMH
. 13 May 2015
. Retrieved
23 March
2019
.
- ^
Patty, Anna.
"Backlash grows over ALP's Chris Minns' anti-union push"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
.
Fairfax Media
. Retrieved
16 July
2022
.
- ^
"NSW Labor leadership hopeful in 'huge coup' as big unions swing their support"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Fairfax Media
. Retrieved
16 July
2022
.
External links
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