Hard man will have to govern for all

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet. Picture: Jane Dempster

The sudden switch of NSW premiers, from Gladys Berejiklian to Dominic Perrottet, carries with it much uncertainty. Who is Perrottet? What’s his style? Can he provide continuity for NSW voters during a pandemic?

The incoming premier should be a known quantity. He has been NSW Treasurer and Liberal Party deputy for as long as Berejiklian has led the nation’s largest state, close to five years. He has been a key part of the NSW crisis cabinet steering the state through Covid.

Yet Perrottet’s public image is largely of a one-dimensional figure, not in the mould of Gladys-style consensus and a long way off her popularity, which was so broad when her leadership was cut short that it transcended voters’ political persuasions.

Perrottet is best known, so far, for how he has presented himself: he’s the hard man from the Liberals’ conservative wing who throws political bombs in parliament and has demonstrated he can be just as ruthless with some on his own side as Labor opponents on the other.

Just ask Ray Williams. Before the 2019 state election, Perrottet provoked a civil war in his party and upset Williams when he tried to move to an electorate closer to the city than his own, Hawkesbury, by elbowing Williams out of his seat, Castle Hill. The ensuing conflict, as Wil­liams refused to budge, was resolved peacefully with Perrottet shifting to Epping.

But Perrottet’s attempt to ditch a party colleague merely to gain the convenience of less daily driving time to his CBD office was an unedifying spectacle. It perplexed even some of his closest allies.

The times could suit Perrottet as he takes the reins, but success is likely to depend on how he plays his hand and a good deal of luck.

As NSW Treasurer with the interests of the state’s economy and people foremost in mind, Perrottet is said to have argued forcefully, but unsuccessfully, with Scott Morrison for the reinstatement of JobKeeper when it became clear Covid-19 was not going away soon. He also has helped introduce measures to support businesses across NSW ravaged by financial difficulties.

So there is no doubt Perrottet is willing to fight for his state and bargain hard for a fair share of the financial pie from Canberra.

However, in the NSW crisis cabinet Perrottet firmly opposed Berejiklian in July when lockdown restrictions were extended. In public comments, Perrottet has seemed a government contrarian, arguing NSW needs to be opened up, not locked down. One news outlet reported – though Perrottet later insisted he had “no recollection” of saying it – that he’d said the state’s chief health officer, Kerry Chant, should take a pay cut if it turned out Covid restrictions were imposed unnecessarily.

These are words unlikely to emanate from Perrottet’s lips when he takes full responsibility for the state’s welfare, needing to rely on frank and fearless advice, and support from experienced hands in cabinet such as Brad Hazzard and Mark Speakman. No doubt Perrottet will receive support, and pressure to remain firm, from advocates of opening up NSW. He is at least assisted by timing: his instalment as premier happily will coincide with the Bere­jiklian-led government’s approved path out of lockdown as NSW vaccination rates hit their targets and “freedom day” arrives next week for the vaxxed.

This is where luck comes into play. The difficulty is what course he chooses, as premier, knowing he has the weight on his shoulders of public safety first and foremost if the state is hit with another wave of Covid and resources are stretched beyond capacity with a shortage of intensive care unit beds. It is easier to be a contrarian, as Perrottet will find, when the buck does not stop with you.

At 39, he will be a young premier. He was a junior lawyer in a city law firm before entering parliament in 2011. His rise has been swift, assisted by a turnover of Coalition premiers. When Berejiklian took over in 2017, Perrottet was suddenly Treasurer, deputy leader and heir apparent.

While Perrottet leads his party’s conservative faction and has expressed some scepticism about man-made climate change, he takes over as premier now thanks to a deal with the majority moderates in his party.

Perrottet is also known for his conservative Catholic views. The son of a high-achieving US-based World Bank executive, he is one of 12 children, happily married and the father of six. He has been associated with Opus Dei within the Catholic Church since his school days in Sydney’s northwest.

All of which is fine, though some of Perrottet’s colleagues wonder how his brand of faith may align sometimes with more moderate NSW. “He is going to have to grapple with his faith and govern for everyone,” one claimed. Perrottet opposed decriminalising abortion when the matter came before parliament in a 2019 conscience vote. He undoubtedly will vote against legislation to permit assisted dying later this month, and supporters of the bill hope he will allow another conscience vote.

There is one elephant in the room for the incoming premier, even if his conservative personal stances present no conflict with the way he governs. Unresolved from Perrottet’s time as NSW Treasurer is his department’s alleged mismanagement of iCare, the state workers compensation scheme. More investigations are likely, possibly even a referral to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, especially when the NSW Labor opposition is sure to seize on any vulnerabilities now Perrottet is assuming the top job.

The iCare saga involves underpayments to 52,000 injured workers and the scheme’s near collapse. A former US Republican political staff member was hired by iCare and placed in Perrottet’s office at a cost of $700,000. The wife of a former iCare chief executive was paid $800,000 after being awarded a contract without a tender. In short, very messy.

Berejiklian’s leadership came undone in ICAC, and the new premier should beware.