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Premier Chris Minns had seemingly veered off-topic. From outlining the government’s achievements, the premier was now ridiculing statements made by opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane.
“We have the absurd situation where the member for Vaucluse is attempting to preserve derelict car parks and derelict service stations because that is the unique character of the member’s electorate,” Minns told the house during question time in October 2023.
Wollondilly independent Judy Hannan had actually asked about how the government would break down silos between departments to deliver infrastructure in Sydney’s west. But analysis of MPs’ contributions to parliament reveals Sloane has been targeted by Minns in parliament.
With just 18 months until the 2027 state election, the Herald has examined each contribution made in the 58th parliament until the end of August to highlight what the government, opposition and crossbench were focused on, while highlighting the MPs who were putting in the work in Macquarie Street.
The analysis reveals the policy areas Minns and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman have considered strengths of their own party and vulnerabilities in the other.
Since the March 2023 election, Minns has hammered home two key messages: highlighting the previous Coalition government’s public sector wage cap (135 mentions) while talking about improving the availability of housing supply across NSW (101).
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The wages cap has worked for Minns in two ways. First, it has been used to explain the prevalence of problems throughout the state’s essential services, through hospitals, schools, police and trains. The comments often work in tandem with Minns highlighting the Coalition’s 12 years in power.
In response to a question about 24/7 ambulance coverage in the Goulburn region in March this year, Minns first addressed the issue, then turned it back on the Coalition. The strategy of using the wages cap as a shield has been a central part of the premier’s arsenal of arguments.
“The removal of the wages cap in NSW, introduced by opposition members who keep saying, ‘Come on, that’s not relevant’, as if paying real wages at less than inflation did not have a massive impact on service delivery across hospitals in NSW. Am I wrong?” he asked.
Second, Minns uses the wages cap to highlight the Coalition’s inconsistency when calling for greater pay increases for frontline workers while simultaneously trying to criticise the government for the rise in public sector wages.
“I still cannot quite work out what the Coalition’s point of view is in relation to this wage dispute. I am all ears. In Blacktown the member for Vaucluse says, ‘Just give them a blank cheque’. But in Vaucluse she says, ‘Let’s bring back the wages cap’,” he said, responding to Speakman during question time in February.
Of the premier’s most uttered phrases in Macquarie Street, Sloane, the “member for Vaucluse”, comes in at seventh with 44 mentions, equal with “domestic violence” and above “public transport”.
The first-term member, touted by Liberals as future leadership material, has been repeatedly savaged by Minns, part of a longer-term strategy to discredit someone the government will likely face at the dispatch box.
The premier’s politicking has not been confined to parliament. Liberal insiders believe the government’s decision to build 10,000 homes around revived plans for Woollahra train station was designed to wedge Sloane.
After Sloane asked why he didn’t meet nurses and midwives during a protest outside parliament in September last year, Minns savaged Sloane’s contradictory position on public sector pay, eventually saying: “The member for Vaucluse is the Gordon Gekko of the New South Wales Parliament.”
Sloane stands as an outlier compared with her parliamentary colleagues. Shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens, a Liberal frontbencher whose podcast, Macquarie Street Matters, is often fodder for Minns, has only rated 20 mentions. The Liberals’ other leadership prospect, opposition environment spokesman James Griffin, has come up four times.
Speakman’s contributions also offer an insight into the Coalition’s strategy. Outside his constituent work, in parliament they have been limited to leading the opposition’s critique of the government during question time. The analysis shows an early focus on NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley (particularly after the tasering of Clare Nowland) and commissioner Karen Webb.
“The government is blocking access sought in the Legislative Council to documents relating to any involvement by the premier or the minister in the lack of disclosure about the tragic tasering of Mrs Clare Nowland. Is there something she is trying to hide?” Speakman asked in November 2023.
While Minns hardly mentioned broad rezoning in opposition, increasing housing supply has become the government’s flagship policy, tapping into deep discontent about the cost of house prices in Sydney and across NSW.
It has understandably been one of the most discussed topics for both Minns and Speakman.
“My question is directed to the premier. Since his government was elected, rents, home prices and homelessness have gone up while dwelling approvals and completions have gone down. Why is his government’s incompetence making it harder to afford a home?” Speakman asked on August 6.
However, undermined by the Coalition’s inconsistent position on greater density, Speakman has struggled to put the premier under sustained pressure. His most uttered phrase has been “point of order”, a request for the speaker to pull Minns back to the question, or an effort just to disrupt him.
“I say to the leader of the opposition that he should pick his battles. If he is going to stop and oppose development in NSW, he has no right to complain about the question,” Minns replied.
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