NSW Labor leader Chris Minns is leaving nothing on the table in his quest to lead the party out of the wilderness.
Chris Minns at the NSW Bear Pit and in the background is Ms Helen Minnican
Clerk of the Legislative Assembly
The luckiest break of all has been the departure from the political stage of the once seemingly invincible Gladys Berejiklian.
Her successor, the 39-year-old Dominic Perrottet, has been hit with a string of crises, most of the government’s own making.
A budget stuffed with election sweeteners has been overshadowed by weeks of collateral damage caused by the botched appointment of former Nationals leader John Barilaro to a lucrative trade post in New York.
~ Chris Minns with Michael Daley
That also cost the career of former NSW deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres, while another minister, Eleni Petinos, has been sacked by Perrottet for alleged bullying. Two other ministers have announced they won’t stand at the next election and two more – David Elliott and Matt Kean – have been at each other’s throats.
But luck can turn. In recent days, a couple of clouds have rolled across Minns’ own horizon. He was accused of acting too slowly against his long-time ally, Labor frontbencher Walt Secord, who spared Minns any overt action by stepping down in the face of bullying allegations. A second Labor frontbencher, Tania Mihailuk, is battling similar claims, though she has strenuously denied them and blamed their surfacing on a messy preselection battle. Minns will be under pressure not to let this drag on.
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