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🇦🇺 Australia /Economy & Trade

Risk versus reward: Was the NSW premier’s trade mission to India worth it?

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Ongoing story
  • New South Wales Premier Chris Minns cut back a media appearance during a trade mission to India after gang-related shootings in Sydney killed two people.
  • Police said the deaths of Marco Tapia and Joshua MacDonald appeared to involve mistaken identity, adding to concern over gang violence in the city.
  • Minns defended remaining in India, saying he could brief with the police commissioner remotely while pursuing investment opportunities.

Chris Minns was in Mumbai, squinting through virtual reality goggles for a photo opportunity, as police in Sydney worked to understand gang violence that had shocked the city. The murders of Marco Tapia and Joshua MacDonald appeared to be cases of mistaken identity, marking a new escalation in Sydney’s gangland war.

We can, for example, speak to the police commissioner on a Teams call.

· Chris MinnsThe NSW premier defended managing the Sydney violence remotely while traveling in India.

The New South Wales premier withdrew from a planned media appearance and skipped a scheduled food tour, leaving his wife Anna and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey to sample saffron-infused rice pudding. Instead, he received a briefing from NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon.

The episode revived Minns’s unease about being thousands of kilometres from home while his state faces a crisis. When the deadly Bondi Junction stabbings occurred in 2024, he returned immediately from a family holiday in Japan. That decision spared him the criticism directed at former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was photographed holidaying in Hawaii as bushfires spread in Australia.

That’s what I would be doing if I was back in Sydney.

· Chris MinnsMinns said his response would not have differed had he been physically in the state.

This week’s violence did not match those earlier crises in scale, but it still demanded the government’s attention. Minns acknowledged that Sydney’s gang war appeared out of control to those affected, while arguing that his physical absence did not prevent him from acting. “We can, for example, speak to the police commissioner on a Teams call,” he said. “That’s what I would be doing if I was back in Sydney.”

We have to be able to walk and chew gum.

· Chris MinnsHe argued that the government could address gang violence while pursuing investment in India.

He also defended the four-day mission, which he said aimed to attract investment. “We have to be able to walk and chew gum,” Minns said. The trip carried added political pressure because he had mocked predecessor Dominic Perrottet’s overseas trade mission in 2022, when controversy over a trade appointment dominated headlines. “NSW is embroiled in scandal and Dominic Perrottet seems to be on an extended Contiki tour through south-east Asia,” Minns wrote at the time. “We deserve better.”

NSW is embroiled in scandal and Dominic Perrottet seems to be on an extended Contiki tour through south-east Asia. We deserve better.

· Chris MinnsMinns made the criticism in 2022, when he was in opposition and commenting on his predecessor’s trade mission.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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