Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet is shaping as the favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales.
But the conservative faces a tough fight for the Liberal Party leadership from leading moderates with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, shaping up as contenders.
At 39, Mr Perrottet would be the youngest leader in the history of Australia’s’ most populated state, making him a year younger than Nick Greiner, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally when they rose to power.
He would also be Australia’s youngest state premier since Labor’s Wayne Goss first led Queensland aged 38 in December 1989.
Mr Perrottet, who became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as Premier, is also a devout Catholic.
At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian announced she would become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created more than three decades ago.
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Father-of-six Dominic Perrottet is shaping as the favourite to replace Gladys Berejiklian as the Premier of New South Wales (he is pictured with his wife Helen and four of their children)
But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run
Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney’s west, is another possible contender. He is the partner of Foreign Minister Marise Payne
Hailing from the Liberal Party’s Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Environment Minister Matt Kean and Attorney-General Mark Speakman among the possibilities.
But he faces a leadership contest with Sydney Northern Beaches-based Planning Minister Rob Stokes declaring he will run.
Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, a moderate holding the marginal seat of Penrith in Sydney’s west, is another possible contender.
Mr Perrottet, the Member for Epping in Sydney’s north, became NSW Young Liberals president in 2005, three years after future Immigration Minister Alex Hawke spear-headed the right-wing takeover of the party’s youth wing.
His studied law at the University of Sydney with future Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the two were friends when they respectively led the youth wings of their parties as right-wing leaders.
Ms Berejiklian, the daughter Armenian migrants, was herself a former leader of the NSW Young Liberals from the moderate faction.
She made history in March 2019 as the first conservative premier to win a state election in Australia.
Now resigning from Parliament, sparking a by-election in her Sydney Lower North Shore seat of Willoughby as Sydney prepares to end its three-month lockdown on October 11.
‘My resignation as Premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control as the ICAC has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW,’ she said in a tearful media conference without taking questions.
Hailing from the Liberal Party’s Right faction Mr Perrottet, a former lawyer, would most likely have a moderate as his deputy, with Matt Kean, Mark Speakman and Rob Stokes among the possibilities (he is pictured with his wife Helen in March 2021)
Mr Perrottet’s elevation would occur as a result of Ms Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation.
Nick Greiner became its first victim in June 1992 – just four years after he established the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a bid to uncover Labor scandals during Neville Wran’s decade in power.
While the Supreme Court later cleared him of scandalously offering a public service job to former education minister Terry Metherell, the damage was done and the late John Fahey replaced him as premier.
Mr Metherell had quit the Liberal Party and was an influential independent crossbencher who was offered a job in the Department of Environment in a bid to entice him to quit a hung Parliament, so the government could win back his seat of Davidson on Sydney’s North Shore.
Little more than two decades later, in April 2014, Barry O’Farrell resigned over an undeclared $3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, bottled in the year of his birth – 1959.
His elevation would occur as a result of Gladys Berejiklian becoming the third Liberal premier to resign because of a corruption investigation
At 1pm, Ms Berejiklian could become the third Liberal premier in NSW to be brought down by the anti-corruption body her side of politics created three decades ago (pictured are former premiers Barry O’Farrell and Nick Greiner in 2017 who resigned, respectively, in 2014 and 1992, but were cleared of any corruption)
He had received the gift in April 2011 – a month after he won a landslide Coalition election victory that ended 16 years of Labor rule, following a series of scandals in Kristina Keneally’s short-lived government.
Mr Barry O’Farrell’s father-in-law Bruce Cowan, a former state and federal National Party MP, also died that month.
Former Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, whose company had been a Liberal Party donor, had given Mr O’Farrell that infamous bottle of wine.
Now Ms Berejiklian could be next after ICAC played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
The NSW Premier made the stunning admission about her relationship with a former political colleague, who has property interests, while giving evidence at the ICAC inquiry into corruption allegations against Mr Maguire on Monday.
Ms Berejiklian said she had a ‘personal attachment’ to Mr Maguire after working together for more than 15 years. She said their relationship began in 2015.
They last spoke on September 13 – less than a month ago – and Ms Berejiklian ceased communication only after agreeing to attend the ICAC inquiry.
Mr Maguire – the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga – was forced to quit the Berejiklian Government in 2018 after a separate ICAC inquiry heard evidence he sought payments to help broker deals for property developers.
An intercepted phone call between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was played to the commission, revealing their close relationship.
Now Ms Berejiklian could be next after ICAC played recordings of her telephone conversations with disgraced former country Liberal MP Daryl Maguire
The private conversation was about Mr Maguire’s first trip to China.
Ms Berejiklian can be heard saying former chief-of-staff Sarah Cruickshank had concerns about his travel.
‘Alright babe, what do you think?’ Mr Maguire said.
Ms Berejiklian replied:
‘I just got home, did Sarah ring you from my office?’
Mr Maguire was concerned.
‘No why?’ he replied.
‘She sent me a text, when she has to ring a member of Parliament she lets me know.