Protesters interrupt Minns meeting as NSW Labor faces backlash on Palestine, nurses pay, environment
Backlash against Labor Premier Chris Minns’ suppression of protest is growing, as Tweed nurses and midwives, pro-Palestine activists and supporters of the Great Koala National Park today protested Minns’ visit to Tweed.
Minns is under increasing pressure to grant nurses and midwives a 15% pay rise, given their wages have been suppressed by Liberal National Governments since 2011. Just a stone’s throw from his meeting today, graduate nurses in Queensland are paid 18% more than in New South Wales.
Recent polling revealed Chris Minns’ personal approval rating has plunged 5 points, even as the Labor and Greens primary votes were up.
Greens MP and North Coast Spokesperson Sue Higginson said, “The Premier is facing increasing backlash from his own caucus and from the community on his draconian anti-protest laws,”
“Tweed locals forced the Labor Cabinet to pause their meeting, because clearly communities right across New South Wales are horrified by what they’re seeing in Gaza and they want their Government to take action, not to suppress action,”
“Our wonderful Northern Rivers community cares deeply about the environment, about social justice, and about protecting each other. Chris Minns is a Labor Premier who is logging the heart out of the Great Koala National Park, shutting down peaceful protests against the genocide in Gaza, and failing to deliver for key workers. Chris Minns and the Labor Government rode into power promising to deliver the Great Koala National Park and do better for key workers and people feel betrayed”,
“The Premier had a lot of nerve showing up 30 seconds away from the border while he refuses to give nurses and midwives even a fraction of the pay they get in Queensland,”
“For nearly 2 years now, the Labor Party has been gaslighting nurses and midwives by saying a pay rise is impossible. Now, Chris Minns is turning up 30 seconds drive from a State where graduate nurses are paid 18% more”.
“It’s increasingly clear that Labor Premier Chris Minns is on the nose across New South Wales for his crackdowns on peaceful protest, for his failure to announce the Great Koala National Park, and for his failure to deliver for our frontline workers.”