Dom-ino effect: election campaign crisis as two Libs resign
In a horror week for Dominic Perrottet, the Premier is presiding over a Coalition in crisis with a senior minister and an Upper House member both resigning from their roles just hours apart.
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Premier Dominic Perrottet is presiding over a Coalition in crisis with a senior minister and an Upper House member both resigning from their roles just hours apart.
In a horror week for the Premier, Finance Minister Damien Tudehope quit after it was discovered he held $65,000 worth of Transurban shares while sitting in Cabinet.
Hours earlier, Mr Tudehope’s Upper House colleague Peter Poulos also resigned after it was revealed he shared explicit photos of a factional rival in the lead-up to her preselection.
Labor didn’t escape the carnage with candidate Terry Campese withdrawing from the race.
Tudehope quits following toll company shares furore
Finance Minister Damien Tudehope has resigned after revelations he held more than $65,000 in shares in toll company Transurban while in cabinet.
The close ally of Premier Dominic Perrottet will remain in parliament but has resigned from his cabinet positions.
“Tonight I have given my resignation as the Minister for Finance, Minister for Employee Relations and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council to the Premier,” Mr Tudehope said on Friday.
Mr Tudehope said the shares were a part of his family superannuation fund and he was not aware he held them.
“When it was brought to my attention that held within my family superannuation fund are shares in the company Transurban I took action to remove them from my fund,” he said.
“The legal advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet has cleared me, advising I did not knowingly breach the Ministerial Code of Conduct.”
“However, during the course of the day I have had the opportunity to consider my position and I value my own integrity and the integrity of the government to be something that is not the subject of repeated political attacks.”
Mr Tudehope said the shares issue was a distraction for the government.
“The events of the last 24 hours have provided an unnecessary distraction for the government at a time when the most important thing for the people of NSW is to be concentrating on the choice before them — an experienced Liberal and Nationals government with a long-term economic plan compared to a NSW Labor Party interested in tired and old politics.”
Mr Perrottet said although Mr Tudehope had not breached the ministerial code of conduct, he had still accepted his letter of resignation.
“Tonight I have accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Damien Tudehope,” Mr Perrottet said.
“I have known Damien for many years and he is a person of integrity and honesty.
“At all times he has undertaken his responsibilities as a Minister with the highest of standards.
“My Department provided advice to me earlier today which cleared Damien, saying he did not knowingly breach the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
“I will take on the role of Minister for Finance and Minister for Employee Relations.”
Earlier on Friday, Mr Tudehope refused to apologise to taxpayers after The Daily Telegraph revealed his superannuation fund made thousands of dollars in profit through shareholdings in Transurban while he was in cabinet.
Initially, he refused to resign while a departmental investigation looked into whether he breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
Mr Tudehope — one of the Premier’s inner circle — has now launched a forensic probe into what other shares his superannuation fund holds.
The Daily Telegraph revealed Mr Tudehope’s superannuation fund had held more than 4600 shares in Transurban since 2014 — which was on Friday worth more than $65,000.
Following questions from The Telegraph, Mr Tudehope admitted to making a “mistake” when it came to disclosing his shareholdings, acknowledging that he should have made “more declarations” about the shares.
He insisted that he had no knowledge of the shares before the Telegraph’s inquiries, despite declaring a printout of his superannuation fund’s shareholdings every year as part of his Ministerial obligations.
“I provided to the Premier, in accordance with my obligation, a printout of the assets which were held by my superannuation fund. I was not aware of the fact that that included Transurban shares,” he said.
“I have to say, I didn’t know that I held those shares at the time that I participated in policy decisions relating to Transurban.”
Mr Tudehope estimated that his superannuation fund had earned “about $6000” on the Transurban shares during the time he has been a minister.
He has now sold the shares.
Mr Tudehope admitted that he was part of discussions on the government’s toll relief package outlined in last year’s budget, whilst he held shares in Transurban.
However he said the policy — which provides motorists with up to $750 in toll rebates — had no impact on Transurban’s share price and therefore his personal wealth.
Mr Tudehope held his shares during the time the WestConnex road project was privatised and ultimately sold to Transurban.
But the Finance Minister said he was not involved in those discussions.
“I was never, ever involved in any discussions relating to WestConnex,” he said.
Penrith MP Stuart Ayres resigned from cabinet last year while he faced questions about potentially breaching the Ministerial Code, something Mr Tudehope is refusing to do.
“The question of who makes the decision in relation to breaches of the ministerial code of conduct is not you, it’s not me, it is the Premier,” Mr Tudehope said.
Mr Ayres was later cleared of any breach and will return to cabinet if the Coalition is re-elected.
Details of the shareholdings were contained in a “portfolio evaluation” of Mr Tudehope’s superannuation fund, unearthed by an order of parliament and obtained by The Telegraph.
Poulos resigns after sending Robyn Preston X-rated picture
Embattled Liberal MLC Peter Poulos has resigned from his position as parliamentary secretary after revelations he shared explicit pictures of fellow MP Robyn Preston to another Liberal Party member.
Premier Dominic Perrottet on Friday said he had received Mr Poulos’s letter of resignation from his parliamentary secretary duties but that he remained a member of parliament.
“Peter Poulos contacted me today and informed me he would be resigning from his parliamentary secretary role. I’ve accepted Peter’s resignation,” Mr Perrottet said.
“He obviously has made a mistake he has apologised for, that I think he gave a heartfelt apology for, not just to the people of the state but particularly to the Member for Hawkesbury Robyn Preston. She’s accepted that apology.
“As well he doesn’t want to be a distraction for me for the campaign. I’ve accepted his resignation from his parliamentary secretary duties.”
It comes after The Sunday Telegraph revealed Mr Poulos had shared the images of Ms Preston five years ago when she was seeking preselection.
An email sent from Mr Poulos had the subject heading “Treasurer’s Pet” and the message “Enjoy” and “please clean up pdf”.
On Thursday, the head of a Sydney Liberal women’s branch has expressed her disappointment at the lack of action taken against Mr Poulos and fired off a letter to the party to ask that he resign over the email he sent about her “friend”.
The request came despite Mr Poulos last week apologising for the “regrettable mistake” and Ms Preston urging the media to “move on”.
Strathfield Women’s branch president Liana Ross said this was not good enough for a party that was fighting the perception that it had a “women problem”.
In a letter sent to the NSW Liberal Party Women’s Council, NSW Liberal state director Chris Stone, NSW Liberal Party Maria Kovacic, Senator Marise Payne and other senior party officials, Ms Ross described the sending of photographs of Ms Preston as “entirely unacceptable”.
“I write in my capacity as President of the Strathfield Women’s Branch,” the letter said.
“It is disappointing to see there has been no consequence or censure regarding the recent actions of Peter Poulos.
“Robyn Preston is an experienced, loyal, committed, Liberal MP.
“I also view Robyn as a friend. As the President of the only urban Liberal women’s branch in NSW, I would like to categorically state that these actions by Poulos are entirely unacceptable.
“This is not going to assist us to win votes at the upcoming state election, or help us to overcome “the Liberal Party has a women problem” sentiment.”
Ms Ross declined to comment about the letter.
Mr Poulos — who is a moderate — is believed to have been working for then Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean at the time the email was sent.
However, the email was sent from a personal Gmail account outside work hours.
When asked about the incident earlier this week, Mr Kean said it was a matter for Mr Poulos.
At the time the email was sent, Ms Preston was vying for the seat of Hawkesbury in a fiercely-contested preselection battle.
A member of the hard right conservative faction, Ms Preston was seen as one of the favoured candidates of Mr Perrottet, who was Treasurer at the time.
The subject line of the email- sighted by The Sunday Telegraph — included the words “Treasurer’s Pet”.
The preselection was triggered after Mr Perrottet, who was then the MP, had decided to change seats and try to overthrow sitting Castle Hill MP Ray Williams.
Unable to do so, Mr Perrottet ended up moving to Epping when MP Damien Tudehope stood aside to end the infighting.
Photographs of Ms Preston from the magazine appeared in media outlets on the eve of the preselection contest.
Mr Poulos has categorically denied to News Corp that he sent the photographs to the media, and that the email was sent to a “private recipient” only.
Advocate for survivors of sexual assault Brittany Higgins has also shared a scathing tweet about Mr Poulos’ circulation of the X-rated photos in 2018.
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