Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician serving as the 47th and current
premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...
since March 2023. He has been the leader of the
New South Wales branch of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
(ALP) since 2021 and a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
(MLA) for the district of
Kogarah since 2015. He was previously the
deputy mayor of Hurstville from 2007 to 2008.
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
Minns was raised in the
St George region of Sydney in the suburb of
Penshurst
Penshurst is a historic village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Weald, Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, Kent, River Eden, within the Seveno ...
.
He studied at
Marist College Kogarah
Marist College Kogarah is an independent Roman Catholic single sex secondary day school for boys, located in Bexley, a suburb located in the St George region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The college was founded in 1909, and has ...
. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of New England in Armidale and attended
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in the United States where he was awarded a Masters in Public Policy (2012–13).
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.
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
and was elected as the member for Kogarah in 2015.
Minns is a supporter of
NRL club the
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...
.
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".
Political career
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.
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. 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%. He was appointed to the portfolios of transport and corrections in the
shadow cabinet.
2021 leadership challenge
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
Yasmin Maree Catley is an Australian politician who is the New South Wales Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism and Regional minister (New South Wales)#Hunter, Minister for the Hunter since 2023. She was elected to the New South Wales Legis ...
. 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. He was the second MP to resign from shadow cabinet in two days after shadow treasurer
Walt Secord, a close supporter of Minns. On 31 May 2021, after McKay resigned as party leader, Minns announced he would run for party leadership. 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. On 4 June 2021, Michael Daley pulled out of the leadership contest, allowing Minns to be elected to the position of leader unopposed.
Opposition Leader
In the 2023 NSW election campaign, Minns made election promises to invest further into public services. He had been criticised for being reluctant to promise reform on
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
in gambling, 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).
2023 election
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. Despite winning the election, Labor did not win enough seats to govern in
majority
A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below.
It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
, but were able to form government with the support of three
independents Alex Greenwich,
Greg Piper and
Joe McGirr.
Premier
The
Health Services Union accused the Minns government of being too slow to remove the 3 per cent limit on pay rises.
In 2024, Minns supported the federal labor government
Age verification system
An age verification system, also known as an age gate, is any technical system that externally verifies a person's age. These systems are used primarily to restrict access to content classified, either voluntarily or by local laws, as being inappr ...
for social media use.
Political views
Minns is a member of
Labor Right
The Labor Right (LR), also known as Labor Forum, Labor Unity or simply Unity, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social democratic to Third Way economic policies ...
, and was assistant secretary of the NSW Labor Party. He has been described as a
centrist.
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
Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...
,
Bill Shorten
William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. He also ...
and the Federal Opposition leader Simon Crean's foreign policy adviser Carl Ungerer.
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
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
lessons in New South Wales schools.
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.
Minns opposed legislation that would enable
voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia is the purposeful ending of another person's life at their request, in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in the 21st century, ...
.
Views on union influence in the Labor Party
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.
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. Additionally, both
Mark Buttigieg and NSW Labor Party secretary Jamie Clements disagreed with Minns' contention regarding unions. By 2019, Minns reportedly no longer held those views, according to HSU NSW state secretary Gerard Hayes.
Controversies
Minns' government passed a law in early 2025, restricting protests "near" places of worship. The
NSW Council for Civil Liberties and legal scholars criticised this action as authoritarian and undermining freedom of assembly.
In 2023
Clover Moore proposed cutting
Moore Park Golf Course from 18 holes to 9, in order to create a new park, which drew criticism from golfers, who suggested that it was her self-interest which drove the proposal, as Moore lives nearby. The state government supports the move, and the park was in its planning stages .
Electoral history
See also
*
Shadow Ministry of Chris Minns
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minns, Chris
1979 births
Living people
Politicians from Sydney
Premiers of New South Wales
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Deputy mayors of places in Australia
Australian Labor Party councillors
Australian republicans
Labor Right politicians
Australian firefighters
Australian expatriates in the United States
University of New England (Australia) alumni
Princeton University alumni
20th-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian politicians
People educated at Marist College Kogarah