NSW officially has a new premier.
Three days after winning the state election, Labor leader Chris Minns was sworn in as the 47th premier of NSW on Tuesday.
"We know there's a huge responsibility on our shoulders and work starts today," Minns told reporters after the ceremony at Government House.
Minns himself says he "was never interested in politics".
"I was only ever interested in the Labor Party."
He joined the party in 1998 at the ripe old age of 18 and was elected as the member for Kogarah 17 years later in 2015.
His maiden speech made headlines when he called for the role of unions to reduced within the Labor party.
"Labor also needs to represent those who are not in a trade union. That will mean taking steps to reduce union control on the floor of our conference and increasing the representation of ordinary members of our party to have more diverse voice," he said.
As for his political views, Minns voted against the voluntary assisted dying bill in 2019 alongside former Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet.
"I’ve made my view clear I don’t support voluntary assisted dying," Minns said at a media conference at the time.
"The reasons I don’t personally [support it] is, I don’t think you can codify the risks for a vulnerable person who’s in the latter stage of their life – who may feel they’re a burden on their family or on their loved ones."
During the election, Minns' Labor party made a range of promise from housing reforms, rebuilding the health workforce, and tackling the cost-of-living.
"Labor will deliver much-needed and urgent cost of living relief, with a cap on tolls, and an energy rebate for 1.6 million households. We will also protect our state assets from privatisation," Minns previously told Mamamia.
You can read about Labor's policies here.
Meeting his wife Anna.
For Minns, joining the Labor party didn't just kick-start his political career, it also helped him meet his wife, Anna.
The pair were introduced by Labor MP Tony Burke back when Anna was a volunteer for the party in 1999.
"From the moment I set eyes on [Anna] at Beverly Hills Pizza Hut in 1999, I knew she was the one," Minns wrote on Twitter last year.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph last year, Anna said her future husband was "very cute" and "confident" when they first met.
"Chris is the most determined person I've ever known," she told the publication.
"I convinced him to join Young Labor, where he quickly became the president. He went to work for the party office and got really involved. His ambition has always been politics."
The pair have been together for just over 21 years now, and have had three sons, Joe, Nick and George.
During the time, Anna has forged her own highly successful career.
She's worked as a criminal prosecutor for the Department of Public Prosecutions and brought TerraCycle "a recycling company that recycles the unrecyclable" from America to Australia and New Zealand.
She is also the CEO and co-founder of Boomerang Labs, a company that helps "support entrepreneurs to commercialise businesses", according to her Linkedin.
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His family life and decision to go sober.
These days, Minns and his family live in Kogarah, in southern Sydney.
When COVID lockdown ended, the 38-year-old decided to make a change and give up drinking alcohol.
"I stopped drinking just after COVID. And haven’t had anything to drink in the last 12 months," he told Hughesy, Ed and Erin last month, adding that he felt "fantastic" after making the change.
"You're in charge of your moods, you get your mornings back, you’ve got a bit more energy to get through the day."
When it comes to his family, Minns said his middle child, Nick, has been "an absolute stirrer" about his friendly political rivalry with former premier Dominic Perrottet.
"Dominic Perrottet comes on the TV, he pauses it, he goes, 'This bloke’s making a lot of sense…,'" Minns said during an interview with 2GB host Deborah Knight.
When Minns later told Perrottet his son was a "secret fan", he ended up receiving a Dominic Perrottet t-shirt in the mail.
"So I have to wake up every second morning, with my middle boy wearing a Dominic Perrottet T-shirt around my own house."
Of course, Nick and his brothers were there to support their dad when he won the election on Saturday night.
Outside of work, Minns spends times outdoors and surfs with his sons.
They also "jam a bit together".
The premier brought his guitar along to an interview with The Kyle & Jackie O Show last month, where he played AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'.
Feature Image: AAP/Instagram@chrisminnsmp
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