We asked Chris Minns about a potential family conflict of interest. He refused to answer

By all accounts, Jim Minns is a top bloke – a smart, driven industrial officer-turned lawyer who fights for a safer workplace for prison guards. Like all private citizens, he has every right to chew his brother’s ear off about anything he wants.

His big brother is NSW Premier Chris Minns. When it comes to the personal affiliations of the elected official, different rules apply. Under ICAC regulations, ministers – and the premier – are supposed to declare private relationships that have the potential to influence decisions or actions in their public role. This rule was at the heart of findings against former premier Gladys Berejiklian, who failed to tell anyone about her relationship with MP Daryl Maguire.

Jim Minns and Chris Minns.Credit: SMH

Minns the younger is a lawyer and former industrial officer who works for the Public Service Association and deals with Corrective Services matters. He had been doing his job in relative anonymity until the past few weeks, when debate over contentious new laws about how prison guards decide the guilt of inmates accused of misconduct prompted questions about whether his role raised a conflict question for his brother.

PSA boss Stewart Little has been directly lobbying the premier to lower the threshold of proof for inmate misconduct from criminal standard to the balance of probabilities which the union says will make prison officers safer. Labor has agreed, and the legislation will be debated in parliament this week despite a damning Ombudsman’s report that found guards had been using the lower standard anyway, and there had been serious abuses of power.

This debate raises questions about a conflict of interest for Minns. We don’t know whether he has declared his relationship with his brother because he refused to say. The Ministerial Register of Interests and cabinet records are confidential, so the Herald put questions to Minns’ office about whether he has declared the relationship in writing, as ICAC rules stipulate – if he has, when was it done and what steps has he has taken to manage the conflict; or, if not, why, and on what grounds did he decide it did not meet the threshold.

There was no comment. The premier decided it wasn’t worth a response.

Conflict of interest questions not worth a response: NSW Premier Chris Minns.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong

We’re not suggesting Minns has been unduly influenced by his brother; the powerful PSA has always had pull with Labor governments, and Minns is not a slave to his family’s views. But the refusal to respond is a worrying sign.

Anthony Whealy, KC, the chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, said Minns should have responded. “The premier, when asked to comment on this, has an absolute obligation to reply to the media,” he said. “A no comment is entirely unsatisfactory from an integrity point of view.”

Whealy also believes there is potential for a conflict of interest in the brothers’ relationship. “It’s an important issue; you’re getting strong lobbying from the PSA, and Minns’ brother has an important role to play in that,” he said. “The safest thing would be to declare it. It’s a personal relationship, sure, but it’s one that has the potential to impede across government decision-making.”

Jim Minns’ union role was not widely known until October, when the premier raised it in an interview on 2GB radio during a prison worker strike about inmate misconduct. “My brother is the union’s lawyer, so I know this issue back to front. He works on it every single day,” he told Ben Fordham. “Around the Christmas table, and around the family table, he tells me … exactly what’s going on.”

ICAC’s regulations say a conflict arises if any decision or action from a member of the executive could be expected to confer a benefit (financial or other advantage) on the minister or a family member of the minister (including a sibling), or if the nature and extent of the interest could have the potential to influence a minister.

Sources within the government say the premier does not believe his brother’s job constitutes a conflict of interest (although that would not have precluded him from declaring it) as there’s no financial benefit and the PSA would get the same access if Jim worked elsewhere.

Greens MP Sue Higginson disagrees. She believes the premier has a conflict of interest, “which it would seem he has not disclosed, which would constitute a breach of our corruption safeguards”.

“The premier is clearly influencing laws that directly impact the work that his brother does,” she said.

Higginson opposes the changes to the “prisoner discipline” laws, saying they’re harsh and will increase the risk of deaths in custody. She called for an inquiry so everyone could be heard, “not just the PSA leadership”.

The opposition is also concerned. Damien Tudehope, the industrial relations spokesman, said Minns should reveal whether and how he made a disclosure, or the advice that stopped him. “The premier has serious questions to answer,” he said. “Given the definition of close personal relationship that was adopted by the ICAC in relation to Gladys Berejiklian, I think every politician should be cognisant of the fact if they do have close personal relationships that impact on the subject matter of their decisions, they should disclose it.”

The opposition and crossbenchers are likely to pursue the question. Minns’ response will be telling. When issues arise for his government that hit a little too close to home, one of his favourite tactics is to ignore the substance and attack the messenger; he might argue that even asking the question casts aspersions on Jim’s character, or insinuates that his highly regarded, hard-working brother is somehow doing something wrong.

That would be a cynical misrepresentation. Chris, not Jim, is the public official, and he is the one legally and ethically responsible for recognising and managing any conflict, real or perceived.

As a private citizen, Jim is entitled to say whatever he wants. His brother, the premier, must meet a higher standard.

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