New Labor leader Chris Minns makes smart move in backing paramedics

Choosing the pay rise dispute for paramedics as his first battleground in parliament could prove a very clever move for new NSW Labor leader Chris Minns.

There was nothing easy about the decision for 1000 paramedics in NSW to wake up on Thursday morning and decide not to res­pond to call-outs.

Going on strike in the health ­industry goes against every instinct of the men and women who take care of us in our sickest hours.

They don’t make these decisions lightly.

The paramedics were opposing a 1.5 per cent pay increase offer. They want 4.7 per cent. Their beef is not unique; frontline workers across the state are almost universally unhappy that the state government froze public sector pay increases last year.

The paramedics of NSW can make a reasonable case, being the lowest paid in all states and territories.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns (centre) with paramedic Lani Farrugia (left) and Chris Branson comment on the pay dispute. Picture: NCA NewsWire

A paramedic with six years’ experience in NSW earns $1456.28 each week. In the ACT they earn $1702.15 a week and in Queensland it’s $1659.50.

But more than a run-of-the-mill industrial dispute, this issue has set the stage for a genuine political contest in the NSW parliament.

New Labor leader Chris Minns, in his first week in the job, chose paramedics’ pay as his first battlefield.

He took it to his first question time, and he and new deputy Prue Car held their first press conference alongside two underpaid paramedics, Lani Farrugia and Chris Branson.

“It’s actually a pay cut for us while we go to work and risk our lives,” Branson said, with Minns chiming in that “one thing we all agree on is that these are the true heroes of the ­pandemic”.

It is heartstring politics that is ­uncomfortable to oppose, lest you quickly paint yourself as cruel.

Rule one of politics is shore up the base, and that’s exactly what Minns was doing.

Paramedic Steve Fraser and HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes. Picture: NCA NewsWire

It’s worth noting that the Health Services Union, which is backing the paramedics, effectively helped Minns into the top job by virtue of their feud with his predecessor Jodi McKay.

The HSU moved to disaffiliate from NSW Labor after run-ins with McKay, with serious financial ramifications for the party.

Minns’ quick take-up of their ­issues could later leave him exposed to questions of whether he is controlled by the union, but it may pave the way for the union returning to the NSW Labor tent.

Whatever the motivation, though, paramedics’ pay is a sound political fight for Labor to have.

When the NSW government made the call more than a year ago to freeze public sector pay rises, it made sense in the economic climate.

There were predictions that unemployment would reach double digits. No one knew what depths the pandemic would take this state to. There was, at the time, no confirmation of a vaccine that worked.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet could make a sound and strong economic argument that public sector pay savings could be funnelled into keeping people in jobs, rather than giving ­people pay increases.

The decision, though, was undermined by moves such as Premier Gladys Berejiklian handing a pay rise to her colleague Damien Tudehope, which didn’t help in making the case.

A year later, as the economy continues to recover, it becomes even more politically difficult to look good frontline workers in the eye and tell them they can’t have a pay rise.

Gladys Berejiklian and Dominic Perrottet are expected to make an announcement about public sector wages soon. Picture: AAP Image

Feuding bitterly with paramedics, nurses and teachers is the type of problem that can creep up on a ­government and cripple its standing in the suburbs.

There is an ever-so-fine line ­between the responsible economics of cutting back on public sector extravagance and taking the approach so far that a conservative government is perceived as cruel to workers.

Perrottet spent an hour meeting with the union on Wednesday morning and, despite not reaching an agreement, both sides believed the discussions were constructive.

Outside of the paramedics’ specific case, the Premier and Treasurer have already been in talks about the wages cap more broadly.

Final budget numbers will be settled on by the Treasurer in the next day or so.

At the time of writing this column, no firm decision had been taken on wages, but one was imminent.

Berejiklian tries to get under Labor’s skin by repeatedly declaring the Liberal-National Coalition is “the party of the worker”.

But that regular refrain took on an almost comical pantomime quality in Question Time this week as she cheered her favourite phrase but then couldn’t satisfactorily answer questions on paramedics’ pay.

Opportunity may abound for Minns, but it won’t be smooth sailing for him, either.

The best interjections in the newly minted leader’s first Question Time came from the man he crushed for the top job, Michael Daley, and the ex-leader he deposed, Jodi McKay.

It wasn’t lost on many that by day two, Daley had relocated right up the back of the chamber and mysteriously piped down for the remainder of the week.

Landing a win on an issue as ­important to the Labor base as public sector pay might be just what the ­Opposition needs to smooth tensions as the new Minns era begins.

It would be a good result for frontline workers, too.