[Theme Music Starts]

RUBY:

From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

On Tuesday, Dominic Perrottet won the support of his Liberal Party colleagues to become the party’s leader, and the 46th Premier of NSW.

Perrottet has replaced Gladys Berejiklian, who resigned after the Independent Commission Against Corruption announced it had launched an investigation into her conduct.

Perrotet is taking over the Premiership at a crucial time for the state, as it prepares to end a long lockdown and enter a new phase of living with Covid-19.

But he’s already facing criticism for his socially conservative views on issues ranging from abortion to voluntary euthanasia.

Today, journalist with the Australian Associated Press Hannah Ryan, on Dominic Perrottet’s life and career so far, and what we know about the kind of leader he’ll be.

It’s Wednesday, October 6.

[Theme Music Ends]

RUBY:

Hannah, it's been less than a week since Gladys Berejiklian resigned, but New South Wales now has a new premier, Dominic Perrottet. It seems like things moved very quickly behind the scenes. So how exactly did Perrett get the top job?

HANNAH:

So Dominic Perrottet has been the deputy leader of the Liberal Party and the New South Wales treasurer since 2017, and it's really no secret that he's had ambitions to be the leader for a while, but I don't think that even he expected it would happen so soon.

So when Gladys Berejiklian announced her resignation on Friday, Perrotet actually didn't immediately announce his candidacy. And that's because he needed to spend the weekend cobbling together enough votes to make sure that he would have support from across the Liberal Party's factions. He's in the right wing of the party, and most of the other leadership contenders were moderates who are actually the bigger faction in the New South Wales Liberal Party.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“We'd like to begin by acknowledging the outpouring of emotion over the last 48 hours for our Premier Gladys Berejiklian.”

HANNAH:

But by Sunday, he announced he was running.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Over the last 48 hours I've had the opportunity to discuss with my wife, Helen, my family and my colleagues my intention to nominate today as the liberal leader of the parliamentary party.”

HANNAH:

He held a press conference and it became clear he'd essentially reached a deal whereby another moderate, Stuart, as who's the JobKeeper minister, would become deputy leader...

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“We believe it is a team that will provide stability, unity and experience.”

HANNAH:

...and that deal got parity enough votes to secure the leadership, which he was elected to on Tuesday, beating out a moderate Rob Stokes.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Can I just say very briefly, it's been an honour, an absolute privilege to be elected as the parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from New South Wales alongside my deputy leader Stuart Ayres. And I really appreciate the trust that my colleagues are putting.”

HANNAH:

And at the age of 39, it makes him one of the youngest political leaders in the country.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Today begins a new chapter for New South Wales and one that we will all write together.”

RUBY:

And so what do we know about Dominique Perrotet’s life that could give us an insight into the kind of leader that he'll be?

HANNAH:

So Perrottet was born in the Hills district in Sydney, which is an area known as Sydney's Bible Belt, and he has 11 siblings and he was raised in a very Catholic family. His dad works for the World Bank, and he's talked about how the kids were encouraged to bring newspaper clippings to the dinner table to debate current affairs from a young age.

Then his early career is pretty typical for a modern day Liberal Party politician.He was president of the New South Wales young liberals, just like Gladys Berejiklian was, and then he worked as a commercial lawyer for a couple of years.

He entered parliament in 2011, which was the same year that the Liberals took office, and he rose through the ranks really quickly, establishing himself as a leading figure in the party's conservative faction.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“The right to life, liberty and property are the foundation upon which everything else is built. Conservatism gives the liberty its virtue.”

HANNAH:

And I think another thing that can give us some insight into what kind of a premier he might be is how he reacted to the 2016 election of Donald Trump in the US. So he did a Facebook post after that victory, praising Trump and describing his victory as a victory for people who have been taken for granted by the elites.
He wrote, If you stand for free speech, you are not a bigot. If you question manmade climate change, you are not a sceptic. If you support stronger borders, you are not a racist. The post ended. It's time for a conservative spring.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“I believe that we need a conservative spring with the authentic voices of mainstream Australia are heard, especially within the Liberal Party.”

RUBY:

Right, OK, so he's part of the conservative wing of the party. He's also a devout Catholic, and it sounds like at least back in 2016, he was pro-Trump. So I suppose the big question with all of that is how much are his personal beliefs likely to impact how he approaches politics?

HANNAH:

Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, he voted against decriminalising abortion in 2019.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Madame speaker, this debate has been framed around choice, and I agree that we have a choice set before us that goes to the core of who we are and who we want to be a choice that would define us as a parliament, as a place and as a people. And that choice is whether we recognise that the unborn also have human rights.”

HANNAH:

And while that bill was being debated in parliament, Perrottet said he couldn't support laws that stop the beating heart of an unborn child.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“The real question is, what kind of society do we want to be? Hopefully, one when life is cherished, cared for and celebrated, one way we recognise the importance of mothers, the challenges they face, the difficulties they endure and one we recognise the unborn children also have rights.”

HANNAH:

And he also said that people who supported the bill are on the wrong side of history for failing to recognise that the unborn also have human rights, and that the bill takes rights away from those for whom they matter most.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Today, there is a choice set out before this house. I choose life. And I encourage others to do the same.”

HANNAH:

That bill ended up passing.
It's also expected he's going to vote against legalising voluntary euthanasia later this year when that comes up as well.

But he's also said that he will allow his members to have a conscience vote.

So I think it is still up in the air about how much his personal social conservatism will affect his policies, or whether he might end up being a bit more pragmatic.

But while his conservative social views have attracted the most attention in the last few days, he's a big reformer in another area economics.

He's very pro-business. He talks a lot about freedom. And throughout the pandemic, he's been the most vocal member of the state's crisis cabinet, speaking out against extended lockdowns. And I think it's actually those kinds of positions that will end up defining what kind of premier he is.

RUBY:

We'll be back after this.

[Advertisement]

RUBY:

Hannah, the new New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet, has spent the last five years as the state's Treasurer. And in that role, he's been conservative, he's been pro-business. What else stands out to you about his time as Treasurer? What should we know?

HANNAH:

So he is a pro-business reformist. He spoke about small business from the very first speech he made in New South Wales parliament, and he's a supporter of small government as well.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“Madame speaker. Our future economy is predicted to be larger and more prosperous than it is today. But the success of New South Wales is tied directly to the success of our business community.”

HANNAH:

So as treasurer, he supported the privatisation of public services in he’s cut public sector pay. He's also known as a tax reformer, so he's talked big about reforming GST. And he said he wants to phase out stamp duty on property purchases as well in favour of a land tax.

Archival tape -- Dominic Perrottet:

“And that's why good liberal budgets don't increase tax, they decrease tax. And in this budget, we are backing small business, cutting another three taxes from one January 20.”

HANNAH:

So he's widely known as someone who's argued against lockdowns in crisis cabinet. And he reportedly privately told New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant that she should take a pay cut if she wanted to implement any unnecessary lockdowns. One of the most damaging episodes, though, from his time as treasurer is probably what's known as the i-care scandal.

Archival tape -- Four Corners:

“Tonight, in a joint investigation with The Sydney Morning Herald and the age Four Corners opens the books on Australia's two biggest workers compensation schemes.”

HANNAH:

So an investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald and Four Corners on the ABC revealed that iCare, which is the state's workers compensation scheme and is managed by his department, had actually underpaid tens of thousands of workers and was generally being mismanaged.

Archival tape -- Four Corners:

That would rank as one of the biggest wage underpayment scandals that Australia has seen, and it certainly is the biggest example of underpayment in Australia by an Australian government.

HANNAH:

and a review commissioned by the New South Wales government found that the programme overall had been run in a sloppy way.

So he does have some skeletons in his closet.

RUBY:

Hmm, and so Hannah, Dominic Perrotet is taking over the leadership of the state after months of lockdown -- that (lockdown) has taken a significant economic toll. How is he likely to handle this stage of the crisis - rebuilding the economy?

HANNAH:

So the government has been spending really big to try and keep the economy turning over during the pandemic, but that's left the state in a situation where revenue is down and debt is ballooning and parity really doesn't like debt.

So based on his economic track record, he might take up his fight with the federal government and other state governments for tax reform more vigorously. But it could also mean more privatisations and cuts to public services. But how that will go down in an environment where the New South Wales public has really come to appreciate things like public health more than ever? Only time will tell.

RUBY:

Mhm. So there are significant challenges facing Perrottet. How tough do you think the next few months will be for him because he's really got these twin challenges of managing the state out of the pandemic, but also managing the New South Wales government's reputation at a time in which it does seem to be in chaos with ICAC hearings coming up multiple resignations. So is parity up to it? Do you think he can do that?

HANNAH:

Yeah, it sounds really hard, doesn't it? I really don't envy the man. He's pretty energetic, he's smart, he's personable. And of course, he's had an eye on this job for quite a while, so I think he's likely to try to hit the ground running.

But for the people of New South Wales, it's actually going to be quite an odd transition because Gladys Berejiklian has become almost like a celebrity.

We got to know her so well throughout the pandemic and the crises that came before, and I think most people wouldn't actually have a clue who Perrottet is. But all of a sudden he's going to be the one leading us through this crisis, so he's got to really quickly earn the public's trust.

And I think he's going to do that by framing himself as really a continuation of the Gladys Berejiklian government. And I'd also be expecting to see him do plenty of kind of Covid press conferences, at least at the start of his premiership.

Then he's going to be joining the national cabinet to help steer the national Covid response. And he's been reported to have had a heated exchange with the prime minister over JobKeeper, and he's publicly called the WA Premier the Gollum of Australian politics. So he does have some bridges to rebuild there.

Then he's facing a new ish kind of opposition leader Chris Minns, who's re-energised the Labour opposition and has been preparing for a party leadership. And then we've got two weeks of ICAC hearings coming up, so there's going to be a steady drip of stories that distract from his agenda. So I imagine he's kind of looking forward to summer when Covid hopefully and politics start to calm down a little bit.

RUBY:

Hannah, thank you so much for your time.

HANNAH:

Thank you.

[Advertisement]

RUBY:

Also in the news today…
Victoria has reported a national record for daily Covid-19 case numbers with one thousand seven hundred and sixty three new cases on Tuesday and four deaths.

Despite the rise in cases, premier Daniel Andrews says the government is committed to sticking to the existing timeline, based on reaching vaccine targets, for opening up the state.

And in New Zealand, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country will abandon its strategy of attempting to eliminate Covid-19.

Instead New Zealand will instead look to live with the virus after strict lockdowns failed to contain community spread.

Some lockdown restrictions in Auckland will be eased from this week, with outdoor gatherings of family and friends are now permitted.

I’m Ruby Jones, See ya tomorrow.

[Theme Music Ends]