It was “humbling that the best week the government had was the one where I didn’t turn up”,Minns said,referring to the final sitting week of 2023 which he missed after contracting COVID.
Premier Chris Minns,with Courtney Houssos and Donna Davis in the background.Wolter Peeters
It wasn’t the first time he’d made the quip. He made the same joke during an end-of-year retreat for ministers held in Wollongong before Christmas,and in one cabinet meeting late last year,he urged his colleagues to “own” their portfolios by engaging in public debate.
The missives may reflect a recognition on Minns’ behalf that,since becoming the first Labor leader to win government from opposition in NSW since Bob Carr in 1995,the breadth of his influence over a new and inexperienced government has earned the nickname “Mr Everywhere” in Macquarie Street.
But if the premier is really seeking to cut the cord,the evidence suggests plenty of work remains to be done.
As the Minns government approaches the anniversary of its first year in office,theHeraldspoke to dozens of MPs,ministers,lobbyists,staffers and advocates to gain an inside look at the first Labor government in 12 years. Sources were granted anonymity to allow them to discuss internal matters freely.
What emerged was a picture of a leader overseeing a tightly controlled operation,which many MPs described as a “command-and-control” structure. And in which some senior government figures say the premier’s authority in the NSW party room is “unprecedented” since Barry O’Farrell’s landslide victory for the Coalition in 2011.
Guided in large part by the premier’s unshakeable faith in his own political instincts and a reflexive inclination to gravitate to the centre,that control has also led to the first bubblings of discontent within the new government.
Some MPs see Minns as unnecessarily cautious over social reform,and complain his fear of the conservative media he considers crucial to the party’s success overrides Labor’s progressive values.
Balancing that is the view,held across senior positions within the government,that Labor in NSW remains on probation with the electorate after its disastrous final years of government,ending in electoral wipeout under Kristina Keneally.
Minns and his office have used his overwhelming control to focus on consolidating the government’s position at the 2027 election by executing a tightly held narrative that places cost of living at the centre of everything.
Minns,flanked by ministers Jo Haylen and Prue Car,making a transport announcement.Steven Siewert
“What I think he doesn’t want in tough economic times when people are feeling the pinch is to give people the impression he is not focused on bread and butter issues,” one senior minister said.
“Given the economic circumstances we’re in you can’t blame him for that. Like every political party or government,we’ll find ourselves in trouble when we start chasing rabbits down holes that the average person in the suburbs is not thinking about.”
Or,as one long-time MP concludes:“It’s about winning.”
“We’re a minority government. We need to be as strong as possible going into the next election. We need to refocus on issues where we’re going to win seats.”
While almost all ministers compliment Minns’ leadership style – he is seen as collaborative,calm and open to debate – there is no doubt the premier and his office,led by chief of staff James Cullen,maintain a vice-like grip.
A recurring theme of criticism is a perceived inability to “walk and chew gum”,as one MP describes it. The relentless focus on core issues such as housing and essential worker pay – which staffers are repeatedly instructed to link back to cost of living during internal strategy meetings – means social reforms such as the promised drug summit have taken a notable back seat.
But the most glaring example of internal discontent is the government’s handling of the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East on October 7.
Minns’ strident support for Israel – including his unilateral decision to light the Opera House in the colours of its flag – has become an increasing source of tension within the caucus,and an example of the tight circle of confidants Minns keeps. On the day the sails were lit,Minns had 11 conversations with Cullen,seven with his closest ally in the parliament,Multiculturalism Minister Steve Kamper,but only one with Police Minister Yasmin Catley.
The anger over Minns’ handling of the Israel conflict is felt most keenly among members of the soft or “Ferguson” left faction,who have become increasingly isolated under Minns’ leadership,and has led to a series of public and private disputes within the government..
Chris Minns at a hospital announcement,flanked by Health Minister Ryan Park and Leppington MP Nathan Hagarty.Edwina Pickles
Shortly after the invasion of southern Israel,during a meeting of upper house Labor MPs,concerns were aired about the wording of a statement to be read in parliament which referred to the country’s “right to defend itself”.
The government,MPs argued in the meeting,should insist on adherence to humanitarian law. Those concerns were ignored,and Labor’s upper house leader Penny Sharpe read the statement unaltered.
The anecdote is notable as one of the few examples of dissent from the backbench and because it is a demonstration of what some MPs say is a defining feature of the government;a centralised control structure in which information is tightly held and dissent is smothered.
Indeed,the Labor caucus,many sources said,tended to be a quiet affair. “It’s where ideas go to die,” one backbench MP said.
Multiple Labor sources spelled out several reasons for what they described as a culture of silence within caucus,including a fear – justified or not – of being reprimanded for speaking out. One MP described disagreeing with cabinet decisions in the caucus as feeling like “the naughty kid in the classroom”.
“Discussion is frowned upon and asking questions is discouraged. The silence is growing heavier and thicker with each passing month. The sense is people feel they are just told what their position is,” one MP says of the meetings.
Numerous MPs used the example of Housing Minister Rose Jackson,who was publicly and privately reprimanded by Minns after the Herald revealed in April that she used a speech to urge her Labor government colleagues to “join the nationwide movement” toward pill testing at music festivals.
Jackson is a close ally of Minns,and many said it sent a clear message not to speak out of turn.
Housing Minister Rose Jackson was admonished for raising pill testing.Alex Ellinghausen
That fear,one senior minister said,was a mark of naïveté,and showed the inexperience of some within the caucus. That minister noted,as did other MPs,that Minns largely has an open-door policy as premier and that challenging ministers in an open caucus where conflict is likely to leak was not an effective strategy.
“Whenever I’ve wanted to raise something with him I’ve been able to see him,if not immediately then fairly quickly,” one experienced backbench MP said.
But the tight control of information has left MPs reeling when caught off guard by missteps.
In August,when the powerful head of the NSW Teachers Federation,Angelo Gavrielatos,held a press conference outside parliament and over a collapsed pay deal,ministers and backbenchers alike were left scrambling.
“We were blindsided,” one minister said after the deal collapsed. Another veteran MP said the fallout prompted “a sense of despair” within the Labor caucus at losing a significant union ally.
“A lot of people in the caucus are there with very,very slim margins and had the assistance of the teachers beside them in the campaign. People were gobsmacked,like,how did we get here?”
Almost immediately after the deal collapsed,MPs immediately started receiving angry phone calls and emails in their electorates. In the first sitting week of August,officials from the union walked the halls of parliament and met MPs one by one to insist they had been betrayed.
At the caucus meeting that week,“stunned” Labor MPs asked for answers,but,sources said,got very little. “We were basically told,we’re not going to go through it all,but just trust us,” one MP said. A month later,when the government agreed to the same deal it had publicly rejected,the caucus was flabbergasted.
“It was just,like,well why did we go through all that pain?” the veteran MP said.
The sense of overarching control by the premier’s office was interpreted differently by MPs. While some complain of feeling “micromanaged”,others said Minns’ keen attention for detail and instinct was a bulwark for a historically inexperienced government. “There’s no safety net as a minister,but it does feel like someone’s given you a balancing pole,” one said.
But there is no doubt a tight control exists. Minns has been particularly forceful in pushing Planning Minister Paul Scully to be more aggressive in delivering the government’s signature housing supply policies. The premier’s office often also dictates local media appearances by MPs,and has final sign-off on press statements.
It also led to frustration outside parliament,with some senior business leaders complaining issues raised with ministers tend to go nowhere unless Minns has given them his imprimatur. And despite deputising his Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig to handle the unwieldy NSW crossbench,Minns remains actively involved in dealings with them in the lower house as he seeks to hold his precarious minority government together.
The oversight within the government is particularly evident in the outer ministry,some sources said,where inexperience coupled with a lack of strategic direction contributed to a sense of drift.
One senior staff member in the outer ministry said the senior levels of government felt “cliquey” in a way that excluded the outer ring. It was “more non-communicative,as opposed to dictatorial”,they said.
“My sense was always that there must have been conversations happening somewhere else,but you were just unlikely to ever be a part of those,” they said.
“The other thing is that not a lot of people were walking into those jobs with a big driving reform narrative in their heads. It’s not just lack of autonomy. It’s that not a lot of people had done a lot of thinking.”
The premier’s office declined to comment for this story.
While Minns may be keen to allow ministers more freedom as Labor enters its second year in power,the conventional view remains that Minns,as the government’s most obvious parliamentary asset,could not afford to loosen the reins too much.
But even his quip about missing parliament is telling. In the final sitting week of 2023,the government descended into farce over the reappointment of Racing NSW chairman Russell Balding when what should have been a procedural bill over a niche issue ended in the government suffering an embarrassing defeat in the chamber.
After a late-night omnishambles,in which they tried and failed to vote against their own bill because of amendments moved by the Coalition,they were forced to drop the legislation entirely.
“We saw what happened when Minns was off with COVID,” one long-serving MP said.
“The shit hit the fan.”
With Alexandra Smith
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