‘That’s just wrong’: Premier fires back over political misstep

Dominic Perrottet has slammed suggestions that he should have splashed cash in Fairfield to encourage a popular independent mayor to run in the Labor stronghold.

• Carbone’s tangled political past

Dominic Perrottet has defended what some are calling his greatest campaign blunder so far, saying he won’t use taxpayer dollars to cruel Labor’s chances of winning electorates.

Mr Perrottet said he would not commit funding to Fairfield in a bid to convince popular Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone to run against Labor in Cabramatta while also running a candidate in Fairfield.

Mr Carbone dropped his plans to run as an independent after Labor committed money to the local hospital.

The Coalition is yet to splash major cash in the seat.

Mr Carbone — who backed independent Dai Le when she toppled Labor’s Kristina Keneally at the federal election — would have been a major threat to Labor’s election chances.

Premier Dominic Perrottet. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

“The commentary around this is somehow that we should have provided taxpayer funding in a certain area or an electorate to encourage somebody to run for parliament because it might have benefited the Liberal government — well I’m sorry, I’m not doing that,” Mr Perrottet said on Thursday.

“I will make my decisions on what I believe is right, not for some political advantage.

“For some people to be saying ‘Oh we should have given money to a community to encourage Frank Carbone to run because that might have helped our electoral chances’, well that’s just completely wrong and I would never do that.”

MAYOR’S ELECTION CALL SPARKS POLITICAL FIRESTORM

Mr Carbone announced he would not run for the seat of Cabramatta on Wednesday, in a major boost to Opposition Leader Chris Minns’ hopes of forming majority government.

Mr Carbone said he had decided not to run, after he claimed Premier Dominic Perrottet had failed to put money on the table for his community.

Mr Carbone on Wednesday confirmed that he had been in discussions with both the Liberal and Labor parties about what funding he wanted for Fairfield while he considered whether or not to run.

His funding demands included money to be spent on Cabra-Vale Leisure Centre.

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone has bowed out of running for the state election. Picture: Robert Pozo

He confirmed he raised the issue with Mr Minns’ office in an email with the Labor leader’s chief of staff.

After Mr Minns pledged $115m to upgrade Fairfield Hospital, Mr Carbone was still seeking more money from the ALP. However, he said a deal never came off.

“No further commitments were made,” he said.

He was also seeking funding for his community from the Liberal Party.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Carbone said Mr Perrottet refused to come to the table.

A spokesman for Mr Perrottet accused Labor of making dodgy funding commitments for the community to convince Mr Carbone not to run as an independent candidate in the safe Cabramatta seat.

Chris Minns. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

A spokesman for Premier Dominic Perrottet took aim at Labor and Mr Carbone’s decision. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“The Labor Party should come clean on any deal they have struck,” the spokesman said.

“They should also come clean if there has been involvement of a federal Labor minister, working with and on behalf of NSW Labor and the leader of the Opposition’s office.

“This is the same old politics from Labor and if they’ve done a secret deal using taxpayer dollars, they should say so,” he said.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen, whose electorate of McMahon covers areas including Fairfield, denied there had been a deal struck with Mr Carbone for the benefit of the community.

Labor also accused the government of courting Mr Carbone with its own funding commitments.

But Liberal operatives believed that if the party had promised any extra money to the local electorate, it may have been in breach of the law.

Frank Carbone handing out how to vote cards at pre polling at St Johns Park Anglican Church in Sydney's Cabramatta for the 2022 federal election Picture: Damian Shaw

The electoral act states that a person must not “promise or offer to give or confer” any benefit in order to “influence or affect another person’s nomination”. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Carbone.

Other Liberal sources said Mr Carbone’s decision not to run in Cabramatta would hurt the government’s re-election chances.

“It’s a massive missed opportunity for us. It could well cost us minority government,” one source said.

Another Liberal said the move would be a relief to Labor campaigners.

“I think it was a strategic mistake from the Liberals,” they said.

“It’s a numbers game and the numbers aren’t complicated. It’s fairly straight forward.

“I would have locked this in. Labor would have been all tangled up, their resources would have had to be diverted from Leppington in particular,” the source said.

Mr Carbone said that “in the absence of any incentives” for the community, he has decided to remain as Mayor.

“It is not my job to be Chris Minns’ nemesis or to contest and give Dominic Perrottet his job just for the sake of it, it’s my role to obtain improvements for our community which has been neglected by both major parties for too long and the prospect of standing as a state candidate almost made that as a reality,” he said.

Mr Carbone suggested that his “team in Western Sydney” is looking at “another opportunity … to make sure that we can best represent the people of this region”.