‘We’re not going in with hubris or arrogance’: How Chris Minns plans to win the NSW election
Malinauskas, 42, and Minns, 43, the ALP’s most telegenic frontmen, have been in regular contact since Minns took over as NSW opposition leader 22 months ago.Malinauskas himself was still in opposition at the time and he and Minns agreed the best way to ride out the pandemic in their respective states was not to critique every government move simply for the sake of it.
The NSW Labor leader, who has kept a similarly steely focus on essential service delivery in education, health and transport alongside cost of living pressures, is desperately hoping to mirror his South Australian counterpart’s success. Christopher Brown, chair of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, says “It’s a fascinating election because it’s the first time in 12 years it’s been even close to close. It’s a genuine battle of ideas … [between] two young suburban dads with different personalities going head to head.”Should Perrottet lose, he’s got the excuse that he’s the last in a succession of four coalition premiers since 2011, and can’t be blamed for all the barnacles accumulated in that time.Minns has no such cover.
Months ago he drafted in one of his most important mentors, former premier Morris Iemma , and the popular former local member in the seat, Cherie Burton, to help him shore up his home base. The prime minister is mobbed by locals wanting selfies and Minns stays in the thick of it for a while, but gradually drifts off behind the roiling press pack. Soon he is in quiet conversation with two surfers who are on a trip back from Tasmania to Queensland.
“He has built a strong leadership team that is very trusted. We don’t always agree but Chris has fostered the idea that we don’t always have to – in fact it’s better if we don’t.” The path to the top finally opened up after Minns and his then-ally, Walt Secord, resigned from McKay’s frontbench, citing outrage after the circulation of a “dirt dossier” on Minns by a staff member in a rival office.Within days, McKay had stepped down, clearing the way for Minns to replace her unopposed when Daley withdrew from a rematch. McKay’s supporters accused Minns of white-anting her. He has always denied it.
Minns’ personal regimen through the campaign is strict. He has given up alcohol for the duration, although that’s left him with sugar cravings. He says it was placed there by a visiting guru associated with the BAPS strand of the Hindu faith who visited Sydney six months ago. It’s one vital route for Labor into the large migrant populations that have built up in the city’s outer ring. On a recent Sunday, he embarked on an hours-long odyssey through outer suburbs, calling in on places of worship and cultural hubs established by Sikh, Muslim and Hindu communities.
There are predictable cries of “shame!” from the Labor faithful. The speech is delivered off the cuff, and has a force that is lacking in Minns’ formal campaign oration, delivered two weeks later with the aid of an autocue. “It’s not just about an equity issue for the west, for example, it’s also about intergenerational equity, where people live in Sydney and will they have access to housing … Sydney cannot grow without more density along major transport routes that have already been built or been commissioned.”
“I know this better than most because I had the honour of watching my dad build a successful life for himself, and a loving home for our family, during a 40-year career as a NSW public school teacher.”Minns grew up in Sydney’s Penshurst, and like Perrottet, is part of a tight-knit Catholic family. Educated by the Marist brothers, he’s also a product of the party he joined when he was a teenager.
There were three detours from this trajectory: the time he spent as a retained firefighter while finishing his university degree in 2006, working for the not-for-profit Inspire Foundation in 2008, and a year a spent in the US, in 2012-13, when he left the party’s head office to undertake a master’s in public policy at Princeton University.
While he’s had years of experience in the backrooms of politics, his parliamentary experience is more limited. Labor needs nine seats to govern in its own right. Both sides are alive to the risk that independents could turn out to be the kingmakers if neither of the major parties wins an outright majority.
This has so incensed whistleblower Troy Stolz, a former industry insider, that Stolz is now challenging Minns as an independent candidate in the leader’s own seat. But cashless gaming is a top priority for two of the most influential independents, Alex Greenwich and Greg Piper. Greenwich says: “The time to do it is now; I would hope that a potential Minns government would not waste the opportunity.”
An independent inquiry commissioned by the council from Arthur Moses, SC, concluded there was no evidence of corruption or an unlawful act by Asfour.
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