Well! By now you’ll know that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigned from her position and from politics on Friday, 1st October, after the NSW Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (ICAC) announced an investigation into whether she misused her position to financially benefit then-boyfriend, Daryl Maguire. The NSW Liberal party have now chosen their new leader in the midst of pandemic lockdowns: Dominic Perrottet but who is this guy?
Here’s what you need to know about who Dominic Perrottet is, what he stands for and how his potential appointment as NSW Premier may affect you.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, 5th October the NSW Liberals voted in Perrottet as their new leader (and therefore Premier) over his challenger Rob Stokes, in a 39-5 vote.
Who is Dominic Perrottet?
Dominic Perrottet (pronounced pero-tay) is currently NSW Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party. He currently the electorate of Epping and has been Treasurer since 2017.
Before entering politics Perrottet was a commercial lawyer (his dad, John Perrottet, is an economist who works with the World Bank). He grew up in suburbs around Epping in a strictly Catholic family of 12 children. Perrottet is still devout to his religion and has socially conservative views to match. He has six children, and at 39 he would be the youngest NSW Premier ever.
When it comes to his politics, The Australian Financial Review recently described Perrottet as “more combative and less cautious than Berejiklian” – make of that what you will. He is part of the right-wing faction of the NSW Liberal Party, which makes up about 40% of the party. To secure the Premiership, he would need support from the moderate group within the party – NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean leads this faction, and his decision will probably decide whether Perrottet gets the gig.
What does Dominic Perrottet stand for, politically?
Here is a non-comprehensive list of Perrottet’s stance on some of the key issues.
icare Insurance Scandal: Perrottet’s biggest political failing is an injured worker’s compensation scheme, known as ‘icare’. He set it up in 2015 to replace an older program, but a joint media investigation by the ABC and The Age, Sydney Morning Herald found that icare underpaid 52,000 workers by up to $80million. Icare was found to be seriously mismanaged, with evidence that contracts were awarded to Liberal party contacts without due process (very similar to the carpark rorts scandal of the Federal Liberals).
First Home Owners: One of Perrottet’s biggest achievements as NSW Treasurer is developing a plan to reform the way property tax works in the state. Stamp duty (which is a lump sum fee you pay whenever you buy a property) would be replaced with a more flexible annual land tax. This would give buyers the option to either pay a bigger lump sum up front if they can afford it, or rather pay an annual fee – calculated at $500 plus 0.3% of the land value. Investment properties would also have a higher fee than owner-occupier properties, and first home buyers would also receive a grant to put towards the fee. His plan has bi-partisan support, you can read more about how it would work here.
JobKeeper: Recently Perrottet is probably best known for calling on the Federal Government to bring back JobKeeper in July 2021, when COVID cases in Sydney were escalating again. As NSW Treasurer, he has been very critical of Scott Morrison and Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s failure (in his eyes) to provide adequate financial support to people during the pandemic. Apparently he pressured Morrison on it so much that the Prime Minister told him to “fuck off” – touchy!
Support of Donald Trump: A screenshot of a Facebook post by Perrottet shows his response to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Read it yourself below… it’s a lot.
Check out this post by Dom Perrottet, one of the front runners to take over as NSW Premier, after Trump won the US Election: “This result is a victory for people who have been taken for granted by the elites in the political establishment for too long”. pic.twitter.com/Aw54SHUUDB
— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) October 1, 2021
Climate Crisis: In 2015, Perrottet told a conservative think tank that “an example of gratuitous waste is the almost religious devotion of the political left to climate change.” When he was asked whether he still believed this in 2019, 9News reported that he “believes in the science but not how it’s being tackled.” Now in 2021, his stance is that it’s “important to develop alternative sources of energy but not to demonise coal on the way through.”
Abortion Laws: Perrottet voted against the laws decriminalising abortion in NSW in 2019. He said that “I cannot in good conscience support a bill which stops the beating heart of an unborn child.” He also proposed an amendment to the law that would exempt doctors who object to performing an abortion from referring the patient to another doctor who would. His amendment was not successful.
Social Welfare: Despite being intensely supportive of JobKeeper, Perrottet has previously demonised welfare recipients. He told a conservative think tank in 2015 that “social security replaces the role of children in old age by socialising the traditional duties of the family.” He backed up that unfounded belief by asking: “Why have children at all when the [government] will take care of you in your old age?”
Perrottet also said that welfare support for the eldery in Europe was causing the ‘troubling’ pattern of marriage breakdowns, lower birth rates and an ageing population.
Diversity & Inclusion: Perrottet made very strange comments on 2GB Radio that suggest he doesn’t understand how diversity, inclusion, sexuality and gender identity works. He said it was “completely unacceptable” that his colleague, Joann Wilkie, sent out a memo to the NSW Treasury Department warning staff about making assumptions about colleagues’ sexuality and gender identity. He then said: “We can’t have people get rid of their own identities for other people’s inclusion. We wouldn’t have Father’s Day if we keep going down this path!” Apparently not assuming that everyone is heterosexual will end Father’s Day, somehow?
Will a New Premier Affect NSW’s COVID Re-Opening Plan?
The plan is unlikely to change either way. Perrottet has previously been against lockdowns, but both he and Stokes are pretty much guaranteed to stick with the existing plan for opening up.
How Will a Perrottet Premiership Affect Federal Politics?
The relationship between NSW and the Federal Government could be complicated with Perrottet as Premier. Perrottet is probably very much aligned with many of Scott Morrison’s values, beliefs and general style of leading. However, they have clashed on certain topics in the past (JobKeeper and tax reforms, mostly). His abrasive style could make him a pain in the ass for Morrison, who is used to the much more cooperative Gladys Berejiklian.
Not only was Berejiklian well regarded by the Federal Liberal party (despite being more moderate than many of them), she was also a very popular Liberal leader in NSW. If Dominic Perrottet is not as popular with the public, it could affect the Liberal ‘brand’ when it comes time for the Federal election in 2022.
