Labor targets Dominic Perrottet’s ‘lag’ on resign letter

Dominic Perrottet’s most senior bureaucrat was so concerned about the resignation letter of the building commissioner he immediately raised it with the department’s top lawyer, new documents reveal.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s most senior bureaucrat was so concerned about the resignation letter of Building Commissioner David Chandler he immediately raised it with the department’s top lawyer, new documents reveal.

Mr Chandler had alleged that sacked fair trading minister Eleni Petinos’s office contacted him “shortly after” a stop-work order was ­issued on a $500m property development linked to John ­Barilaro.

A tranche of emails obtained under parliamentary order reveal Department of Customer Service secretary Emma Hogan brought Mr Chandler’s resignation letter to the attention of Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter minutes after she received a copy.

Mr Coutts-Trotter then sought the advice of the department’s general counsel, asking: “Can we please discuss tomorrow morning.”

Obtained by Labor, the documents also reveal Mr Perrottet’s chief of staff, Bran Black, was emailed a copy of the letter on July 31 – within hours of a meeting between the Premier and Ms Hogan where he resolved to sack Ms Petinos over serious alle­gations of bullying.

During question time on Aug­ust 9, Mr Perrottet advised parliament he had not read Mr Chandler’s explosive letter, and the contents had been discussed only in passing during his meeting with Ms Hogan on July 31.

“I have not read that letter,” Mr Perrottet said. “I can say to the member that was not a factor in the consideration of that decision – clearly, because I have not read that letter.”

On August 10, Mr Perrottet told parliament he had read the letter overnight and was advised the document had been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption by Ms Hogan “out of an abundance of caution”.

He claimed the letter, which alleged Ms Petinos had contacted the Building Commissioner “shortly” after a stop work order was slapped on a developer linked to Mr Barilaro, had no bearing on his decision to sack the minister.

Mr Chandler raised further concerns about his experience with Ms Petinos’s office, saying their engagement had been “problematic”, which was causing “important pieces” of legislation to run into “serious disruption”.

“This is having an impact on the confidence in, and momentum of, the reforms that had been previously achieved,” he wrote.

Labor leader Chris Minns said the revelations meant there were “serious questions to answer” for Mr Perrottet. “The Premier maintained he had not read the Chandler resignation letter until 9 August,” he said. “However, new documents show the Premier’s most senior adviser received a copy of the Chandler letter from secretary Emma Hogan on the same day the Premier sacked Eleni Petinos.”

Opposition better regulation spokeswoman Courtney Houssos said: “It just isn’t believable that it took another 10 days for the Premier to be briefed on its contents – especially when it rang so many alarm bells in the public service.”

A week after allegations of bullying were levelled against Labor MP Walt Secord, the Right faction heavyweight released a statement announcing he would leave parliament at the March election after 11 years in Macquarie Street.

Mr Secord had stood down from Labor’s frontbench in light of the allegations, saying his continued presence would be a distraction for Mr Minns in the midst of the Broderick review into bullying and harassment in NSW parliamentary workplaces

The Australian had previously revealed his parliamentary career was in jeopardy after Mr Minns said he would not support him at his looming preselection battle.