The burning desire for power that triggered the rise of Minns — and his cross-factional clique

In the lean years following Labor’s third successive election loss, a small, cross-factional group of MPs would gather in the Macquarie Street office of Rockdale MP Steve Kamper almost every night during parliamentary sitting weeks.

Tucked in a corner of level 10, at the opposite end to the office of then Labor leader Jodi McKay, the four MPs – Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson, warriors of the Hard Left, and Chris Minns and Kamper from the Right – would drink coffee and wine, lamenting the party’s fortunes.

The three backed Minns in his first unsuccessful leadership ballot against McKay and were certain the party would be consigned to 16 years in opposition unless he managed to depose the Strathfield MP before the 2023 election.

Partly the bond was generational: Minns, Jackson and Haylen are of similar ages, while Kamper and Minns are close friends. But primarily, they all ardently believed Minns was the only person capable of dragging Labor out of the wilderness.

“We were there knowing that Jodi did not have the goods to deliver us into government. There’s nothing like fighting in the trenches to build those bonds,” one MP recalls.

As parliament resumes for the Minns government’s second year in power, the Herald spoke to dozens of ministers, current and former MPs, staffers and lobbyists to understand how the premier, his cabinet and caucus operate.

Sources were granted anonymity, allowing them to speak openly about the inner workings of the government.

As McKay’s leadership began to capitulate through the middle of 2021, the clique of four grew as more MPs disillusioned with the direction of the party peeled off towards the rebel group.

Occasionally, they would be joined by others: Walt Secord, Courtney Houssos, Jihad Dib, Ron Hoenig, Edmund Atalla. Even Tania Mihailuk, who later quit the party to join One Nation, would drop by from time to time.

Eventually, what would become Minns’ senior leadership team began to take shape. Among them were four members of the Hard Left: Haylen, Jackson, Penny Sharpe and John Graham.

NSW Premier Chris Minns with ministers Steve Kamper, left, and John Graham, right, at Allianz StadiumCredit: Janie Barrett

As one senior Labor source said of the grouping: “The coalition that eventually amassed around Minns were people who were sick of being in opposition and wanted to win. The more hyper-factional elements of the party were isolated as a result of that.”

Despite Minns’ conservative inclinations – the Kogarah MP voted against the assisted dying bill in May 2022 – the praetorian guard of senior left wing MPs around the premier set aside their ideological differences in the pursuit of a long-term Labor government.

Instead of the old factional divides, the new inner sanctum is united by one thing: Minns.

Sacrificing virtues for power?

In late March 2022, the then NSW Coalition government fumed as freight operations at Port Botany were incapacitated by protest group Blockade Australia, the second time the group had disrupted a major port in a matter of months.

Without first conferring with the party room on his position, Minns was quoted in News Corp papers backing controversial new laws which would introduce penalties of up to two years’ jail, a $22,000 fine, or both, for protesters who blocked roads, industrial and transport facilities.

The laws were almost universally condemned by the disparate coalition which makes up Labor’s base, and the captain’s call left sections of the party apoplectic. Historically, protest has always been a pivotal part of the labour movement; curtailing freedoms to do so seemed to fly in the face of everything the party stood for, one MP said.

Senior Labor cabinet ministers Jo Haylen (left) and Rose Jackson are both long-time advocates for drug reform.Credit: James Brickwood

“It was a torrid time in caucus once people found out,” one Labor source recalled.

Within Minns’ inner sanctum, the policy was publicly supported by members of the Hard Left: Graham, who as shadow roads minister had carriage of Labor’s position, described the Blockade Australia protests as “violent economic blockades”, while Jackson accused the protesters of undermining action on climate change.

It was the first example of a number of contentious issues where Minns, backed by his progressive ministers, has adopted positions incongruent with Labor principles, instead focused on winning over tabloids and shock jocks, some MPs believe.

“The Hard Left is a misnomer,” one said. “We call them the Soft Right.

“They’re in power for power’s sake, rather than making the world a better place.”

The word oft-repeated by MPs is transactional: the Hard Left have compromised their political beliefs to be in government.

Outside of Jackson speaking out on drug law reform in April, for which she was quickly rebuked by Minns in public and private, Labor sources say there is little evidence of progressive, inner-city ministers offering a counterweight to the premier’s proclivity to hew to the centre.

MPs point to a series of decisions, from Minns’ forthright support for Israel; the drug summit, which was first expected to be in February, then by the end of the financial year, and now the date is uncertain; and the government’s punitive crackdown on knife crime.

“There are two schools of thought about how you lead governments: One, you stick to your values and deliver policy and that earns you respect, or two, you avoid any issue that might be controversial or polarising, and you shift to mundane bread and butter issues,” an MP said.

“It’s uncomfortable because branch members take you to task over the position the party has taken, and you have to say: ‘I didn’t get a say’. And that can be difficult,” a backbencher said.

But others see this kind of criticism as political naïveté.

The retort from those close to Minns is that reform can only be achieved from government, and government can only be won from the centre. In a naturally conservative jurisdiction such as NSW, where conservative media outlets such as the Daily Telegraph hold outsized sway, the pursuit of ideological purity will leave MPs watching the world go by from opposition.

“I’m of the belief people need Labor governments. We can either go slowly, slowly and govern from the middle, or we can go to the extreme left and lose those voters,” one senior government source said, noting criticism over the pace of reform perennially plagues state and federal Labor governments.

The blue and white colours of the Israeli flag projected onto the Opera House in October.Credit: Getty

An MP on the right agrees with the assessment.

Those hankering for broad and immediate social reform ignore the government’s achievements since coming into office. Without first consolidating the party’s electoral position, pursuing major shifts in policy all at once will see Labor turfed out.

The pragmatic left-wingers close to Minns understand this, and are playing the long game, he said.

One senior minister said the cost of living crisis has limited the government’s capacity to talk about social reform in its first year. But the weight of expectation that Labor will use power to enact progressive change isn’t lost on senior members of the Minns government.

‘This year and next year: the priority has to be reform. If we don’t make significant headway in this time, then it will be too late.’

A senior NSW government minister

The test of good government, will be ensuring promised reforms are pursued in the “very narrow window” available to the government ahead of the 2027 state election.

“This year and next year: the priority has to be reform. If we don’t make significant headway in this time, then it will be too late,” the minister said.

The premier’s office declined to comment for this story.

The isolation of the soft left

One manifestation of the alliance between Minns’ supporters in the Right and the Hard Left has been the isolation of the sub-faction of the progressives: the Soft Left or the Fergusons, named after the group’s founder, Jack Ferguson, a former NSW deputy premier.

Premier Chris Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Despite the 20 left MPs being almost evenly balanced between the two warring parties, the Hard Left is represented by six ministers in cabinet: Sharpe, Graham, Haylen, Jackson, Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Women Minister Jodie Harrison.

The Right commands 39 MPs and 17 spots on the frontbench.

Since Tim Crakanthorp was dumped from cabinet in May over a disclosure scandal, the Soft Left, which held three shadow cabinet spots under McKay’s leadership, are now excluded from the frontbench, instead consigned to a couple of parliamentary secretaries positions and lower house whip.

‘There’s been unnecessary caution when it comes to conversion therapy and drug law reform.’

A member of the Labor left

“The Soft Left doesn’t matter. They’re becoming more and more irrelevant. Minns has his close people, then everyone else. He despises the Soft Left. The Hard Left and the Right have almost everything, and they divide it up based on personalities,” one backbencher said.

Some MPs believe exile and the government’s centrist posture has pushed the Fergusons to speak out on issues.

In mid-October last year, Legislative Council MP Cameron Murphy stood up in parliament to urge the government to undertake an “urgent” pill-testing trial during this summer’s music festival season. Anthony D’Adam and Greens MP Jenny Leong initiated a second letter signed by state and federal MPs in December over the federal Labor government’s response to the ongoing invasion of Gaza.

Others see them as functioning as the effective opposition to the government.

Gay conversion therapy is an issue faced by the Minns government.Credit: Reuters

With nothing to lose, the Fergusons will continue to agitate in 2024. But the pressure will be on Minns’ close-confidants in the Hard Left to deliver the social reforms which their rank-and-file demand but which jar with the premier’s more centrist political compass.

“While the government has been bold on some issues, there’s been unnecessary caution when it comes to conversion therapy and drug law reform,” one senior left source said.

“There’s concern among branch members that they’re getting cold feet. Rank and file members, stakeholders and voters are expecting the Labor government to deliver on their promises, and not put these important reforms in the too hard basket.”

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