Faction fight as wannabes jostle for the big prize

NSW Treasurer was firming as a frontrunner to succeed Gladys Berejiklian but now faces a contest amid a move ‘to trample his dreams’.

Dominic Perrottet’s public profile has risen rapidly in recent months. Picture: Supplied

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet was firming as a frontrunner to succeed Gladys Berejiklian on Friday but faces a contest for the role from Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman also has not ruled out contesting the leadership, encouraged by federal officials and elements of the NSW Centre-Right faction.

Mr Speakman and Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres were “taking the temperature” of the partyroom on Friday, colleagues said.

Mr Perrottet, Mr Stokes and Liberal factional powerbrokers were working the phones late on Friday – and will do so across the weekend – to shore up support, with the leader and deputy leader expected to be decided at a partyroom meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Perrottet, a Right faction conservative, has for months counted on the support of Energy Minister Matt Kean, the moderate faction leader, to bolster his numbers in a leadership contest.

Mr Perrottet speaks at a press conference as Ms Berejiklian looks on. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Perrottet’s public profile has risen rapidly in recent months, with the NSW Treasurer outspoken on his push to lift Covid-19 restrictions and balance economic realities with health concerns as NSW manages the pandemic.

A former NSW Young Liberals president, he has been the deputy Liberal leader since 2017.

But the Centre-Right faction, a group of 12 Liberal MPs led by Police Minister David Elliott, is not expected to support Mr Perrottet.

Mr Speakman, who also belongs to the moderate faction, is being encouraged by the Centre-Right to run as an alternate candidate to Mr Stokes, who is viewed by many Liberals as too left-leaning to become premier.

Alternatively, they could support Mr Stokes in a bid to block Mr Perrottet, providing him with the numbers for a credible run at the leadership. But this tilt would require further support from his moderate colleagues, and as the counting continued it appeared his greatest impediment would be leading these colleagues away from Mr Kean and Mr Perrottet, according to a well-placed official familiar with the numbers.

Some moderate faction figures are also deeply unhappy about Mr Stokes’ decision to publicly announce his candidacy for the position shortly after Ms Berejiklian announced her intention to resign.

“He was the first one to nominate and dance on her grave and that’s not sitting well with the ­moderates,” said one Liberal MP, who is barred from speaking publicly about party matters.

More conservative Liberal MPs are also concerned that Mr Stokes, the former education minister whose electorate of Pittwater takes in a large part os Sydney’s northern beaches, is too progressive.

“He’s basically a member of the Greens,” one senior Liberal source said, adding that the Centre-Right was working primarily to “just to trample over Perrottet’s dreams”.

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

Mr Kean has had a long­standing agreement to support Mr Perrottet’s bid, under a deal that would see him serve as Mr Perrottet’s treasurer. It was Mr Kean who brokered an arrangement for Mr Perrottet and Ms Berejiklian to form government in 2017.

Under that deal it was expected that Ms Berejiklian would eventually hand over the leadership and that Mr Perrottet would ascend with the full support of moderates.

In a statement released on Friday, Mr Perrottet praised Ms Berejiklian and said he would talk with his family and colleagues about any leadership aspirations.

He said this would include “how I can best serve the people of NSW to continue to achieve these aims”.

The Right faction has at least nine MPs in its group, while a further three are unaligned.

While publicly backing Ms Berejiklian, senior Liberals have been conducting some succession plans in the expectation that their leader may be ousted by inquiries in train at the Independent Commission Against Corruption. These plans took on some momentum after The Australian revealed that private hearings had recommenced, and that two senior ministers had been summoned to give evidence at the reopened proceedings.