Transgender comments threaten Perrottet’s minority government

The NSW Coalition’s shaky grasp on government is under threat as a key independent warns he will no longer guarantee supply and confidence if Premier Dominic Perrottet continues to make damaging statements about transgender children and sport.

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has confirmed that he would withdraw his support for the government if Perrottet’s rhetoric about children’s sport continues.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet during budget estimates at NSW Parliament on Thursday.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Fellow independent Greg Piper has not yet decided to end his deal with the government to ensure supply and confidence, but said he was “appalled” by Perrottet’s comments and would consider his options.

The premier this week publicly weighed into the debate on excluding transgender people from women’s sports, triggered by inflammatory comments by the embattled Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves.

He said he believed it was a matter of physiology that “girls should play sport against girls” and that people should be able to raise issues “without being cancelled”.

Perrottet reiterated the remarks on Thursday, telling a hearing of budget estimates he was entitled to an opinion, which he believed was “in line with fair-minded Australians”.

Greenwich has been crucial to the Coalition being able to govern in minority, but for the first time has threatened to withdraw his support for the government.

“I’ve maintained a very cooperative working relationship with the Perrottet minority government, but it would be impossible for that to continue if trans youth continue to be picked on by the Premier,” Greenwich said.

“Fair-minded people don’t want vulnerable kids bullied by political leaders,” he said.

Piper, the MP for Lake Macquarie, said Perrottet could not just justify his comments as “simply holding an opinion” because a leader has an obligation to have “considered opinions that do not cause harm to vulnerable communities”.

Independents Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Lake Macquare MP Greg Piper.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer, Janie Barrett

The Coalition is in minority in the lower house, needing 47 MPs to govern outright, but has only 45 and relies on the support of the crossbench. It also does not control the upper house.

The panel that selected Deves to run in the formerly blue-ribbon federal seat of Warringah, held by Independent Zali Steggall, comprised Perrottet, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former NSW Liberal Party president Christine McDiven.

The premier has rejected calls for Deves to be disendorsed over her comments that invoked Nazism and the stolen generation, including from his Treasurer Matt Kean.

During budget estimates on Thursday, the premier said he was being unfairly characterised by Greens MP Abigail Boyd, who accused him of standing “on the side of the transphobes”.

Treasurer Matt Kean has called for Katherine Deves to be disendorsed by the party.Credit: SMH

“My personal view is that when it comes to competitive sport, young girls should compete against young girls,” he said, calling for a common-sense and sensitive approach to the debate.

“I believe my views are more in line with fair-minded Australians than yours ... I’m entitled to my opinion.”

Greenwich wrote to the premier on Wednesday seeking an urgent meeting, warning that it was “damaging for transgender people to listen to politicians suddenly claim that they pose a threat to sport and should be excluded”.

“The rhetoric adds further to the already high level of stigma and discrimination that has led to high rates of suicide among trans people, especially young trans people,” his letter said.

“The government should be encouraging everyone, including transgender and gender-diverse people, to participate in sport and I would like to meet with you to discuss how to repair the damage from recent comments.”

Greenwich told the Herald the premier’s views were deeply damaging and hurtful to transgender people, who face “significant stigma, discrimination and exclusion”.

Facing estimates on Thursday, Perrottet was also pressed on the number of extra positions handed out to almost the entire Coalition caucus, with all but one government MP currently earning above their base salary of $169,000.

There are 26 ministers, the most in the state’s history, and 18 parliamentary secretaries, while almost every backbencher has been awarded a position that attracts additional pay.

The premier said his record, 26-person cabinet - which includes four female Liberals and three female National party MPs - was merit-based, but added that the Liberal Party could “do better” on female representation.

Bureaucrats who later fronted the hearing included NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt, who criticised the funding model for his agency.

“My systems, my IT systems − I’ll use unparliamentary language: some of them are crap, they’re old,” he said.

“I get funding as part of the election cycle. This is work that you cannot do in the last minute in the lead-up to the election. And the older the systems are, the longer it takes to fix them.”

Earlier, ICAC Commissioner Peter Hall repeated concerns he has long held over the funding arrangement between the integrity agency and the government, describing the funding model as “broken [and] hopelessly inadequate”.

He said the fact that the executive retained control over the agency’s funding was “not only a paradox” but contrary to the ICAC Act.

“This is serious business, this is not something around the edges. This goes to the heart of the Commission’s operations,” he said.

“Contrary to some of the wild accusations sometimes levelled at the commission, we will only make serious adverse findings against anyone when we have cogent evidence ... because of the importance of personal reputation.”

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