Women will make up half of all ministers in the New South Wales government for the first time, it has been confirmed, after the Labor premier, Chris Minns, unveiled his new ministry.
A number of portfolios will also be held by women for the first time in history, with Yasmin Catley announced as minister for police and counter-terrorism and Jennifer Aitchison taking on regional transport.
Courtney Houssos will become finance minister, while Tara Moriarty will have the agriculture, regional NSW, and western NSW portfolios.
It will also be the first time a woman has led the government in the upper house, with Penny Sharpe taking on the portfolios of energy and climate change, and environment and heritage.
In a statement, Minns said he was proud of his new ministry.
“We have a clear mandate from the people of NSW to rebuild our essential services, to invest in the people who look after us – our nurses, teachers, paramedics, firefighters and police officers,” he said.
Minns also announced that Paul Scully, who was shadow police minister in opposition, will now take on planning and public spaces.
David Harris will have the tricky task of enacting the new government’s gambling reform package after being appointed to the racing and gaming portfolio, amid calls from the crossbench for more ambitious goals. Minns has committed to installing an expert panel to oversee an expanded cashless gaming trial by July.
Alongside gaming, Harris will also service as the minister for Aboriginal affairs and treaty, veterans, medical research and the Central Coast.
Ron Hoenig will take on the local government portfolio. Greg Warren was shadow minister for local government but he – along with Julia Finn, who was the shadow minister for youth and sport – were not included in Minns’ ministry.
Jihad Dib will be the first minster to be sworn in on the Qur’an as he takes on the customer service, digital government, emergency services and youth justice portfolios. Daniel Mookhey, who will serve as treasurer, will be the first to be sworn in on the Bhagavad Gita.
Meanwhile, Minns will support the independent MP for Lake Macquarie, Greg Piper, becoming the lower house speaker when parliament returns in May.
Piper said: “Notwithstanding that ours is an adversarial parliamentary system, there is room for considerable improvement in the chamber and I look forward to working with all members to raise the regard for proceedings in the eyes of the public.”
The new ministry expands on the seven senior ministers sworn in last week.
Minns on Monday defended his decision not to have a health minister dedicated just to regional health as the previous government did, insisting that Ryan Park was well placed to advocate for the regions.
“He has got a unique insight into what regional communities need in terms of the allocation of resources,” he said, adding: “We’re headed to a minority government in NSW with a hung parliament but we’re prepared for that."
“We’ve got confidence and supply from three independents. There’ll be a large crossbench in the legislative assembly … We feel we’ve got a mandate from the people of NSW.”
Just one seat – Ryde – was yet to be called on Monday but it is widely expected to remain in Liberal hands, despite an almost 9% swing against the party after the resignation of the popular government minister Victor Dominello.
Minns has said he would refer Gareth Ward to parliament’s privileges committee when parliament resumed aftger the former Liberal’s re-election in Kiama after pleading not guilty to sexual assault charges.
The new premier has also promised not to work with Mark Latham, after the NSW One Nation leader made offensive comments on Twitter that he has since deleted but refused to apologise for.
Latham is on leave while the upper house election results are finalised.
