Premier Chris Minns’ rail strike comments come back to bite him

Two years ago Chris Minns called for then-transport minister David Elliott to resign over claims he went to bed during a crisis on Sydney’s train network. Now he is dealing with his own crisis.

Chris Minns’ comments have come back to bite him. Only two years ago, the Premier called for former Transport Minister David Elliott to be sacked over claims he went to bed during a major rail shut down.

Now, Mr Minns and his Transport Minister are under fire after the rail union’s extraordinary move to halt Sydney’s train network between Friday and Sunday, demanding a whopping 32 per cent pay rise over four years.

During Question Time, Mr Minns refused to condemn the rail union, instead reminding parliament of the circumstances of an industrial dispute in February 2022, when the train network was shut down at the last minute.

Mr Minns read from an ABC article in February 2022 which said “Premier Dominic Perrottet says he should have been consulted before bureaucrats shut down NSW’s passenger rail network … after new Transport Minister David Elliott admitted he went to bed.”

At the time of the 2022 crisis, Mr Minns, who was then opposition leader, called for David Elliott to resign, saying: “either he (Mr Elliott) is running a department of Transport he has no control of or he was made aware of it and has been misleading the public … either way, he’s got to go.”

A 2022 Instagram post from Chris Minns calling for David Elliott to resign.

A 2022 Instagram post from Chris Minns calling for David Elliott to resign.

In a social media post, Mr Minns said “the NSW Minister for Transport must resign. He’s either incompetent or he’s misled the parliament and the people of NSW. Millions of commuters are paying the price for this chaos.”

In a separate post - which contained an image of Mr Elliott with the word “resign” splashed over his head, Mr Minns said “over a million people stranded. A train network in chaos. Total incompetence. The NSW Transport Minister has got to go.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

When approached for comment on Wednesday, Mr Elliott told The Daily Telegraph media reports he went to bed during the 2022 crisis were “completely incorrect.”

“The fact remains - a senior public servant was sacked” Mr Elliott said.

“I was never disengaged. At midnight I received a briefing that due to industrial action rail services would be adversely impacted from 4am.

“The public servants had a legal obligation to advise me if they were going to shut down the network. They didn’t advise me and no call was made to me before they acted at around 2am. I fail to see how people assumed that I was supposed to wait for a phone call that actually never came.”

When asked to respond to being mentioned as part of today’s rail union saga, Mr Elliott simply replied: “as much as I’m flattered that my legacy lives on, to quote General Hurley - the standard we walk by is the standard we accept”.

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Originally published as Premier Chris Minns’ rail strike comments come back to bite him