A blame game over Sydney’s crime wave has plunged relations between the Albanese and Minns Labor governments to a new low as Canberra accuses NSW of failing to provide paperwork to go after crime kingpins in Lebanon and Vietnam.
A bitter stoush between state and federal ministers following the murder of two men in Sydney last week adds to a growing list of bust-ups between Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns on the GST, high federal income taxes, tobacco excise, hospital bed funding and the response to the Bondi massacre.
Albanese and his cabinet have been stewing over NSW Labor’s repeated barbs but this week’s criticisms of Attorney-General Michelle Rowland by NSW Police have tipped several federal ministers over the edge six months before the state election.
NSW Police on Sunday suggested Rowland had for months sat on an Interpol red notice to target figures connected with the mistaken identity murders of university student Marco Tapia, 23, and business owner Joshua Macdonald, 40.
Minns’ close relationship with the NSW police force has frustrated Albanese at several flashpoints, including the Dural caravan scare and after the Bondi attacks.
Federal sources familiar with the latest dispute said NSW Police handed over key paperwork only on Monday – a day after a story appeared in The Sunday Telegraph. While some documentation had been sent to the Commonwealth previously, Canberra insists that even now, NSW has not provided all the critical documents needed to work with international crime-fighting partners.
“There have been no delays,” says one top Labor source who asked for anonymity to criticise their state colleagues.
As Albanese’s close allies threaten to make life harder for Minns on state-federal funding agreements before his re-election bid, the source said that Rowland, who is from Minns’ Right faction, was “key to getting shit done” for western Sydney and “the last friend” of the premier around the cabinet table.
“Now they have none,” the source said. “You have got to stop deflecting the attention away from your own failures. Sydneysiders just want the shootings to stop. They don’t want to hear the spin. This is a pattern of behaviour.”
Minns has been careful to avoid directly criticising Rowland this week but has said he was confident the federal government would do “a lot more” on activating Interpol red notices after the state Attorney-General Michael Daley met with Rowland.
“I’m now confident that in the coming weeks and months we see a lot more activity,” Minns said on Monday.
“We’ve got a strong relationship with the federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. I know the attorneys met directly with her about some of the challenges with applying for and being granted red notices.”
However, the federal government claims Minns was mistaken when he said that Daley raised red notices in a brief phone conversation with Rowland on Thursday last week. NSW sources claim the matter was raised.
A spokesman for Rowland said: “Any suggestion that the Commonwealth is not fulfilling, or has not fulfilled, its obligations in a timely manner is wrong.”
The NSW government has come under increasing pressure to address violence on Sydney’s streets as One Nation’s vote surges. On Monday, Minns announced a suite of measures to address the gangland violence, conceding the state had a problem. The comments came days after his police minister denied the situation was out of control.
The NSW government was approached for comment.
This masthead reported in May on the acrimonious relationship between Albanese and Minns. Their already frosty relationship soured after the Bondi massacre when Albanese was accused of being indecisive and Minns swiftly called a royal commission. Albanese’s close allies believe Minns has authorised a culture of blaming Canberra for all manner of policy failings. Figures in NSW view Albanese, who has poor approval ratings, as a drag in NSW who has made a number of political missteps.
Onlookers at last month’s national cabinet meeting observed Minns’ body language to be noticeably downbeat as he sat near Albanese in a testy press conference about eastern states’ complaints about the GST carve-up.
“This bloke here, the premier of NSW, I’ll be working hard to make sure he stays the premier after March next year. Under my government, NSW will always get support,” Albanese said at the August 26 meeting in Sydney. Minns did not respond to Albanese’s remark.
NSW Labor sources questioned how prominent a role Albanese would play in the NSW election given his relationship with Minns and the prime minister’s personal approval rating.
One key sticking point between Canberra and Macquarie Street, a funding deal to keep alive the Tomago smelter, was settled last month in a $2.5 billion joint funding arrangement. Minns also backed Albanese’s fresh policy to make algorithms less addictive.
The dispute over crime in Sydney is likely to drag on as authorities plan to deal with Lebanese and Vietnamese authorities to track down crime figures behind suburban plots.
“False commentary on the status of law enforcement matters does not assist the efforts of our agencies,” Rowland’s spokesman said.
A NSW police spokesman said: “Over the last two years, NSW Police has commenced the necessary legal processes to seek ‘Red Notices’ for several individuals wanted in connection with serious and organised criminal activity in NSW.
“This engagement remains ongoing, and NSW Police Force continues to work closely with relevant Commonwealth agencies to progress those Red Notice applications. No further detail can be provided while these processes remain active.”
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Paul Sakkalis Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect viaXoremail.
Max Maddisonis a state political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
