NSW Labor crisis deepens as Chris Minns steps down

The crisis engulfing the NSW Labor Party and leader Jodi McKay deepened on Wednesday with the resignation of a second shadow minister.

NSW Labor MP Chris Minns on Wednesday. Picture: Jeremy Piper

The crisis engulfing the NSW Labor Party and leader Jodi McKay deepened on Wednesday with the resignation of a second shadow minister and efforts continuing by some MPs to change the leadership with the blessing of party officials.

Transport spokesman Chris Minns quit the frontbench on Wednesday, saying his position had become untenable because a dirt file had been leaked against him by a staff member working in deputy leader Yasmin Catley’s office. The staff member has since been stood down indefinitely, ­officials said.

Ms Catley and Ms McKay deny any knowledge of the document circulated among journalists about the Kogarah MP.

“I’m obviously disappointed by news reports that a dirt dossier was distributed by the deputy leader of the Labor Party’s office,’’ Mr Minns said in a statement.

“In the last 24 hours, I have not received any communication or explanation from the leader or the deputy leader as to how or why this was done.”

At a press conference later, he said he had no plans to contest the Labor leadership but agreed the party was “imploding” and that further discussions would be had with colleagues over its future.

“I’ve got no plans to do that,” he said of a possible challenge.

“I need to speak to my colleagues over coming days about the best way forward for the NSW Labor Party (and) how we mount a credible challenge against the Liberal Party.”

As leadership rumblings continued, Ms McKay’s defenders insisted Mr Minns did not have the numbers to pose a viable threat but they conceded her position could be destabilised if Mr Minns combined his voting bloc with those supporting an alternative candidate, such as health spokesman Ryan Park.

NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay on Wednesday. Picture: John Grainger

Michael Daley, a former party leader, has also been touted as a possible contender; the member for Maroubra remains supportive of Ms McKay but is expected to challenge if the leadership becomes available. The last leadership contest was held in 2019, at which Ms McKay won 29 votes against Mr Minns’s 21.

One party official said efforts to combine voting blocs was continuing, and further approaches to officials on Sussex Street would occur over coming days. The ambition was to convince these officials that Ms McKay should walk away of her own ­volition.

Ms McKay’s supporters said party officials had already rebuffed advances of this kind in recent days, and while her position appeared safe, she was “not out of the woods yet”. In an interview with Sky News, Ms McKay made it clear she would remain as leader and retained the support of the broad base of the party.

“If I don’t have the support, I won’t be there,” she said.

Mr Minns’s departure from shadow cabinet followed that of Treasury spokesman Walt Secord, who resigned on Tuesday, citing numerous reasons for his resignation, including the circulation of the dirt file against Mr Minns and broader dissatisfaction with the strategic and tactical direction of the party.

Ms McKay has not announced who will replace Mr Minns or Mr Secord in her shadow cabinet, nor has she confirmed who would ­occupy a third vacancy previously held by Penny Sharpe.

The party’s deputy leader in the Legislative Council resigned from the frontbench earlier this month after abstaining from a vote on legislation that Labor had agreed to support, amounting to a technical breach of party policy.