Labor leader Chris Minns sacks Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk live on radio after she raised corruption concerns

Hours before firing her on radio over her parliamentary attack on a colleague, Labor leader warned Tania Mihailuk via text and voicemail her job was on the line. He got no reply.

Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk was sacked from Labor’s Shadow Cabinet live on radio after she failed to agree to stop attacking party colleagues under parliamentary privilege.

Labor Leader Chris Minns fired Ms Mihailuk on Friday morning after warning her that she would be sacked from the front bench unless she could provide him with evidence to back up corruption concerns levelled against Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour in a late night statement to parliament.

Ms Mihailuk’s political future is now in doubt amid a messy preselection stoush which could see her pushed out of Bankstown in favour of frontbencher Jihad Dib who has lost his seat in a redistribution.

Labor Leader Chris Minns announced that he had sacked Ms Mihailuk during an interview on 2GB on Friday morning.

By 11.30am, he still had not told Ms Mihailuk that she had been fired.

Bankstown Labor MP Tania Mihailuk. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Hours before firing his frontbencher on radio, Mr Minns had warned Ms Mihailuk via text message and a voicemail that her job was on the line.

“I said to her: ‘if I don’t hear from you, it is my understanding that you don’t want to be a member of the Shadow Cabinet team, and therefore you can’t remain,’” Mr Minns said.

Ms Mihailuk used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday night to allege Mr Asfour was “tainted,” and linked him with corrupt former Minister Eddie Obeid.

Mr Minns confirmed he had made the decision to sack Ms Mihailuk. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Mr Asfour was endorsed last week for Labor’s upper house ticket.

Mr Minns first spoke to the Bankstown MP about her attack on Wednesday afternoon.

“The question I asked her: is what information can you tell me about the allegations that you made in the New South Wales parliament? And none were forthcoming,” he said.

He then gave her an ultimatum on Thursday that she could not remain on the frontbench unless she agreed not to use parliament to attack party colleagues.

“If your boss contacts you and says ‘I really need an answer as to whether you want to keep your job with these new terms,’ and you don’t bother ringing back for just about a whole day, then the boss is going to say ‘we need to make a decision’”.

He then asked Ms Mihailuk for information to back up her attack on Mr Asfour, but none was provided.

Mr Minns admitted on Friday that he does not know whether Ms Mihailuk has referred the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Ms Mihailuk did not respond to requests for comment.

Should Ms Mihailuk fail to find a seat, One Nation MLC Mark Latham said he would be happy to have a discussion with her about her future. 

“We are always keen to talk to those standing up against the corruption and Left-wing wokeness of the major parties,” he said.

“After all, that’s how I became One Nation.”   

Premier Dominic Perrottet accused Mr Minns of trying to “silence” a “strong woman” standing up to corruption.

“I don’t believe that you should silence and sack a strong woman for speaking out about alleged corruption in the NSW Labor Party,” he said.

“This is exactly the type of behaviour that allowed Eddie Obeid to flourish at silencing strong women who were standing up and speaking out in relation to alleged corruption in NSW.”

Originally published as Labor leader Chris Minns sacks Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk live on radio after she raised corruption concerns