Chris Minns quits Labor frontbench amid Jodi McKay leadership battle

NSW Labor MP Chris Minns has quit Jodi McKay’s shadow cabinet over a “dirt dossier”, saying his position is now “untenable.”

Labor MP Chris Minns insists he has “no plans” to challenge Jodi McKay but says he will talk to his colleagues “over the next few days” about the future of the party.

Mr Minns announced his resignation from the shadow cabinet on Wednesday, saying his position as opposition transport minister was untenable after a “dirt dossier was distributed by the Deputy Leader’s office”.

Despite quitting the front bench, Mr Minns insisted he won’t challenge the leader and will “focus on (his) community” from the backbench.

It came after Ms McKay declared she is not expecting a spill, and said the majority of the caucus support her.

Shadow transport minister Chris Minns. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Jodi McKay on Wednesday. Picture: John Grainger

Asked whether he agreed, Mr Minns said: “I don’t know, I need to speak with my colleagues over the next few days about the future of NSW Labor”.

Ms McKay said a staff member for Deputy Labor Leader Yasmin Catley had “lost his job” over the document designed to undermine Mr Minns. Both Ms McKay and Ms Catley denied knowledge of the document.

Mr Minns said he wouldn’t make any comment about the distribution of the document.

However, he said: “we’re all responsible for our staff”.

His resignation follows senior Labor MP Walt Secord who resigned on Tuesday, in a move which could pave the way for a leadership challenge.

Mr Minns said his position in the shadow cabinet was “untenable”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Mr Minns’ supporters were trying to rally numbers for a spill on Monday but a defiant Ms McKay has dug in as leader, ­declaring she will stay put ­because “no one has the ­numbers within caucus to mount a challenge”.

Ms McKay said that ­despite giving her colleagues 48 hours to mount a challenge since the devastating Upper Hunter by-election loss, no one had told her to go.

“If someone had the ­numbers within caucus and wanted to (challenge), they could have done that,” she said. Ms McKay emphasised that Labor needs to change its message and policies.

She also suggested the Covid-19 pandemic and Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s popularity had hurt her standing as Opposition ­Leader.

“Am I perhaps not as popular as Gladys Berejik­lian? Yes, but for me, popularity is not what’s important,” she said.

Former frontbencher Walt Secord has quit as shadow treasurer. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

A “dirt file” distributed to journalists by Deputy Leader Yasmin Catley’s office on Monday included a list of which candidates Labor MPs voted for in the 2019 leadership ballot.

It highlighted previously reported references to Mr Minns in a 2019 Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry, and his ties to former General Secretary Jamie Clements.

Both Ms McKay and Ms Catley denied prior knowledge of the document.

Those comments sparked Mr Secord – first elected to parliament 10 years ago – to quit his roles as Treasury and Arts spokesman.

He said Ms McKay and Ms Catley “must come clean and explain” what they knew.

He said it was “abhorrent” that a staff member from the Deputy Leader’s office would distribute a “dirt dossier” against “a member of the shadow cabinet that … had not even declared that they were standing (for the ­leadership)”.

Ahead of Mr Secord’s resignation, Ms McKay had ­already indicated she had “started to think” about a change in the Treasury portfolio. She refused to be drawn on her plans for a wider ­reshuffle.

Other frontbenchers are now expected to follow Mr Secord in quitting. Mr Secord paved the way for a potential move from the Minns camp declaring the party’s Transport spokesman would be a better Labor leader.