This was published 4 years ago
After her signature breakfast, Berejiklian stares down Barilaro and wins
By Lucy Cormack
Premier Gladys Berejiklian was all waves and smiles as she left her home on Sydney’s north shore on Friday morning.
Clutching her signature breakfast - a handful of Cheds crackers - she said she couldn’t wait to meet with Victorian COVID-19 contact tracers - nary a mention of the hotly anticipated meeting with her Deputy Premier John Barilaro at 9am.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was in a good mood on Friday morning ahead of her meeting with John Barilaro. Credit: Nick Moir
The meeting was scheduled just hours after the Premier had served the NSW Nationals leader a fierce ultimatum: withdraw your threats to move to the crossbench or you’re out.
On Thursday Mr Barilaro threatened to split the Coalition by taking his MPs to the crossbench over the divisive koala planning policy his party says will hurt farmers.
Before Friday's showdown, a Nationals party room meeting was under way over Zoom, with MPs deciding whether to remain in the Coalition or split the partnership.
Outside the government’s CBD headquarters were all the electric rumblings of a media scrum hungry for a good old-fashioned political crisis; the countdown to 9am was on.
There was no denying the steely resolve of Liberal MPs about the Premier's tough stance ahead of the meeting, with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes warning his boss was "not bluffing", and there was “always a way back from these things.”
On Phillip Street, Transport Minister Andrew Constance praised his leader, who had been “working her backside off” and didn’t need the distraction of this Coalition crisis.
"Glad doesn’t deserve this,” he said.
After the clock struck nine, it was clear Mr Barilaro’s threats were just that. It soon emerged the Deputy Premier had backed down entirely, agreeing to remain in the cabinet so long as the policy was debated at cabinet.
One senior Liberal source said Mr Barilaro had "100 per cent capitulated and could not even secure a date to discuss the Koala SEPP [State Environmental Planning Policy] and it will come to cabinet in due course".
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the past "difficult" 24 hours had been a distraction and "nothing has changed." Debating the issue at cabinet, he said, "was the Premier's position all through last week, that was the Premier's decision today and now we move on."
But in Mr Barilaro's eyes, the outcome was nothing short of "a win," because it put the koala planning policy on the agenda and secured a commitment to bring it before cabinet.
"How many of you actually knew about the koala SEPP as an issue previously? No one. At the start of the week ... this wasn't an urgent issue for the government," he said.
"Well guess what, today it is an urgent issue," brushing off suggestions he should resign.
"Why should I resign?
"What we did yesterday was right, no regrets for yesterday. But because of yesterday, we got today, and today we got an outcome."