With Labor’s Chris Minns’ recent win at the NSW election on March 25, let’s take a closer look at the (front bench) ministers he hand picked, and how they may impact residents on the north coast.
On the upside, there is now substantial power bestowed upon the women folk – his frontbench consists of 22 ministers; 11 are women. There’s also much broader cultural diversity in ministers than the Liberal–Nationals government previously had.
It’s a big divergence from the vanilla, privileged (and entitled) white middle-aged male lineup that mostly occupied the NSW parliamentary cabinet for the past decade.
The Minister for the North Coast is Rose Jackson, MLC, who, from The Echo’s understanding, lives elsewhere.
Nevertheless, Jackson is also Minister for Water, Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health, and Youth.
Labor MP Janelle Saffin
Unfortunately, Lismore Labor MP Janelle Saffin’s strong advocacy for the region didn’t land her a ministry position.
Given the flood/landslide devastation a year on, and poor governance so far in the reconstruction of the region (despite a massive budget) – where is the Minister for Northern NSW Flood Reconstruction?
Moving on, there are Ministries that are more influential than others.
Just two that will impact the north coast somewhat more than others are the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (Paul Scully MP), and the Minister for Local Government, (Ron Hoenig MP). They can play a pivotal role in either improving, or not, the ability for council’s to operate sufficiently without the need to grovel to the government for funds. Such advancements could lead to better roads, for example.
The influential roles in our lives
Other ministries play arguably similar influential roles in our lives.
They include the Minister for Health and Regional Health (Ryan Park MP), the Minister for Education and Early Learning (Pru Car MP), the Attorney General (Michael Daly MP), Treasurer (Daniel Mookhey MLC), the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads (Jenny Aitchison MP), the Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism (Yasmin CarleyMP ), and the Minister for Small Business, Lands and Property (Stephen Kamper MP).
John Graham MLC takes on large portfolios as Minister for Roads, the Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy, as well as Jobs and Tourism.
It’s early days. And ministries can shuffle about at the start. Let’s wish them all the best in bringing about meaningful and positive reform.
Hans Lovejoy, editor
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
