Women fill half of Chris Minns ministry in NSW

The new Minns ministry will be the first in NSW history to be composed of 50 per cent women, with independent Greg Piper set to become Speaker of the lower house.

NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The new Minns ministry will be the first in NSW history to be composed of 50 per cent women, with independent Greg Piper set to become Speaker of the lower house, as the new Premier consults with crossbench members to shore up what is now expected to be a minority government.

On the latest count, Mr Minns will have 45 seats in the new parliament, two short of a majority, with just a single seat, Ryde, in doubt and likely to fall to the Liberal Party’s Jordan Lane.

Handing Mr Piper the speakership allows the government to maintain its numbers on the floor of the lower house, with the Legislative Assembly set to vote for the position on its return in May.

However, with a large crossbench with which to negotiate, Mr Minns is confident the government will be able to pass legislation, including his poker machine reforms, which have previously been rejected by some independents as too weak. Labor promised a trial of cashless gaming on 500 poker machines and a ban on political parties accepting financial donations from clubs with gaming machines.

Announcing the new ministry on Monday, Mr Minns emphasised Labor had been given a mandate to govern. “We have a clear mandate from the people of NSW to rebuild our essential services, to invest in the people who look after us – our nurses, teachers, paramedics, firefighters and police officers,” he said. “Our priority is to help families and households deal with the increasing cost of living, the energy crisis and to fix our schools and hospitals.”

Three independents – Lake Macquarie MP Mr Piper, Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr – have already agreed to provide confidence and supply, should the government need it.

Both previous NSW administrations, under Dominic Perrottet and Gladys Berejiklian, were minority governments after resignations by Liberal MPs.

Mr Minns considered the existing shadow ministry of 25 MPs too unwieldy and cut the new ministry to 22.

Appointments include Sophie Cotsis as Minister for Industrial Relations, Yasmin Catley as Minister for Police and Jihad Dib as Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government.

Courtney Houssos becomes Minister for Finance, Ron Hoenig is Minister for Local Government and Rose Jackson is Minister for Water and Housing.

Mr Minns’ close friend, Steve Kamper, will be Minister for Small Business, Lands and Property, Multiculturalism and Sport.

Penny Sharpe will take on the responsibility of Energy and Climate Change, Environment and Heritage as well as Leader of the government in the Legislative Council.

Tara Moriarty becomes Minister for Agriculture, Regional NSW and Western NSW.

David Harris will take on Aboriginal Affairs and Gaming.