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AAP
AAP
Politics
Luke Costin

No pair? Unfair! Minister's fury over major health meet

NSW's Ryan Park has been denied a pair to attend a health ministers' meeting in Canberra. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

NSW's seat at a major meeting of health ministers could be vacant after Ryan Park accused the opposition of ditching "team NSW".

Federal, state and territory ministers and staff will meet in Canberra on Friday to discuss issues requiring cross-border collaboration, with a ministers-only meeting set for Thursday night.

Two requests to the state opposition to provide a pair for Mr Park's absence during parliamentary votes that afternoon have been rejected in the past week.

Unable to resolve the matter privately, the state health minister on Wednesday took to the pulpit in parliament.

"Despite feigning as though they're on team NSW, this lot over there has prevented me from going down," he said.

The discussions he would miss could "potentially cost this state billions of dollars", Mr Park said.

It is common for the major parties to negate the absence of MPs by having an equal number of MPs on the other side sit out votes.

Two coalition MPs missed parliament on Tuesday with the impact on numerous votes negated by Labor MPs sitting out.

Mr Park's written request for a pair initially neglected to mention the Thursday-night meeting, but it was flagged in a subsequent plea on Tuesday.

An opposition spokesman said the government was treating the NSW parliament and voters with contempt.

"The Minns government has set a bare minimum sitting schedule because they lack any plans or vision for NSW, and they seem to think that it's not even important to attend," he said.

"There are flights from Sydney to Canberra on Thursday evening or early Friday morning that would allow the minister to attend his Friday meeting without neglecting his work in parliament."

Health ministers last met on February 20, when they discussed the national vaping crackdown, a new agreement for a $59-billion-per-year health agreement and cutting red tape for Indian health professionals in Australia.

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