Chris Minns was pressed over whether he had any upcoming trips to China on his calendar like his colleagues in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, but he maintained “there’s enough on my plate right here in New South Wales”.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says he has no plans to travel to China this year like his Victorian, Queensland, and Western Australian Labor counterparts, saying he has more pressing issues to deal with.
The newly-elected Mr Minns appeared on 2GB radio where he was pressed by host Ben Fordham about whether he had any upcoming trips to China on his calendar.
“I’m not going to China. There’s enough on my plate right here in NSW,” Mr Minns said on Thursday.
“You’ve got a bit of competition though,” Ford continued.
“Because Dan Andrews has just returned from Beijing, Mark McGowan in Western Australia is going to be going we believe later this month. Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’s going as well, I think in November of this year.
“So, in this term, would you consider a trip to China or are you just putting a line through it?”
“I’m putting a line through it. I wasn’t elected to do those trips,” Mr Minns replied.
“My responsibilities are right here, we have an enormous amount of domestic issues facing the people of NSW, that’s my priority.
“We’ve got our feet under the desk we’ve got to hit the ground running and that doesn’t include jumping on a plane and heading overseas.”
Both Queensland Premier Ms Palaszczuk and her Western Australian counterpart Mr McGowan have announced they will be journeying to China this year, following in the footsteps of Victoria’s Daniel Andrews.
Mr McGowan announced his five-day trip on Sunday, which is slated to begin on April 17 and aims to “reconnect” the Premier with Chinese leaders.
Ms Palaszczuk’s trip is also centred around improving her state’s trade relationship with China, but she will not be venturing over until November this year.
Mr Albanese has welcomed news of the respective Premiers’ upcoming trips, telling Western Australia’s 6PR radio that he was “absolutely” happy for them to visit China.
“It’s about jobs, and it’s about them looking after their state,” he said.
He noted for the “great export state” of Western Australia, China was the number one destination for exports.
“So it’s a good thing that Mark McGowan is engaged with our major trading partner,” Mr Albanese added.
It comes after the Victorian Premier’s trip attracted criticism over a lack of transparency, with details of the trip not being made public until just days before, and no journalists invited to accompany the Premier.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Andrews sought to defend his controversial decision to not travel with a media pack.
“When you travel to China, you don’t get to interview any of the people I would meet with. That’s just how it works,” he said in Melbourne.
“I’m not saying it was a good thing, or not. I’ve done more press conferences than most. Some of them can be very, very lengthy. I try to answer any questions you have for me.
“The notion that if you’d been there you’d be able to have a long chat or a long chat with the people I met with, that’s never happened.”