The minister and Minns: Anoulack Chanthivong’s rise under a powerful premier and the fight over NSW prisons

Anoulack Chanthivong was six when he arrived in Australia with his family from Laos, via a refugee camp in Thailand. Now, he says, ‘I was, and I am always, just a working class lad from south-west Sydney.’ Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Anoulack Chanthivong admits he was surprised when Chris Minns asked him to take on the unforgiving portfolio of New South Wales corrections minister.

The former economist was the shadow finance minister when Labor was in opposition but says he finds the corrections role “rewarding”.