NSW Premier Chris Minns typically takes every opportunity to sledge the member for Vaucluse, Kellie Sloane, on the floors of parliament. But on Monday, after recalling MPs to push through new terror laws in the aftermath of the Bondi shooting, Minns paid tribute to his opponent.

“[The opposition] have worked very hard at making as much of these changes as bipartisan as possible, so I am not going to criticise anyone,” he said.

Chris Minns and Anthony Albanese.Credit: Aresna Villanueva

It was the kind of bipartisan spirit that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese alluded to wistfully at his press conference on Monday, when he made mention of how the Liberal, Nationals and Labor leaders united on gun reform after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, and the way he leant opposition support to former prime minister Scott Morrison during the pandemic.

“This is not a time for partisanship. This is a time for national unity. This is a time for the country to come together,” Albanese said. “That’s what happens.”

Except it hasn’t this time. While NSW politics has transcended partisanship in the last week – Minns and Sloane laid flowers together at Bondi last Monday – the federal debate has descended into the kind of politicking that many voters revile.

In a sign of the bitterness,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald