Ousting Dominic Perrottet could make more trouble for Liberal party, commentators say

The Liberal Party should have dealt with the Dominic Perrottet Nazi uniform gaffe long ago, but booting him as leader now is not the answer, political experts say. 

The premier today told the media he was confident in his position as leader of the party after his shock admission Thursday about wearing a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.

The party was held at his parent’s house in 2003 and was ‘uniform’ themed. Two years later, Mr Perrottet became president of the NSW Young Liberals.

Although one government source has expressed doubts to the ABC about whether Mr Perrottet can lead the party to the March election, colleagues rushed to throw their support behind him today.

Among those defending him were Treasurer Matt Kean, Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor, Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello and Deputy Premier Paul Toole.

Labor has largely kept quiet in the wake of the scandal, but deputy leader Prue Car today said it was up to the public to decide whether the premier can be forgiven.

“The real issue at play here .. is that this is a government in chaos, yet again we have another internal Liberal Party brawl playing out in the public,” she said.

The premier said he only confessed to the “mistake” after a call from a cabinet colleague a few days ago, who was later revealed as retiring Transport Minister David Elliott.

Mr Perrottet denies the call from the minister had been a threat.

Premier Dominic Perrottet at age 20 — a year before the birthday party in question.(Supplied)

Despite the question mark hanging over Mr Perrottet’s leadership, some say it would be too politically risky to replace him.

Political commentator Mark Rolfe says switching leaders 10 weeks out from the election could leave the party looking like a “complete joke”.

“If you don’t want to turn a car crash to a car wreck, my suggestion would be to stick with him at this stage,” the UNSW expert told the ABC.

“I can’t see really at this late stage how it would greatly benefit the party, even though it is behind in the two-party preferred (polls).”

Dr Rolfe said he was shocked the party had not managed the scandal before now, and questioned whether Mr Perrottet had been honest during the party vetting process.

Former NSW Liberal minister Michael Yabsley says the party needs to do some serious damage control.(ABC News)

On Thursday, the premier said he had thought about going public about the gaffe “a number of times” but could not explain why he hadn’t.

“Either that [incident] has not been revealed in the vetting process or he did admit it and it was still kept quiet by the party,” Dr Rolfe said.

“It shows how the party is missing out with some of its vetting strategies, we saw that most disastrously with Katherine Deves.”

In last year’s federal election, Ms Deves unsuccessfully ran for the seat of Warringah after coming under intense scrutiny about a series of social media posts in which she made controversial comments about transgender people.

During campaigning, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean called for her to be disendorsed, saying she was “not fit for office”.

Dr Rolfe said the party should have learnt from this and developed a strategy to tackle Mr Perrottet’s scandal, preferably when he was treasurer and being touted as a future premier.

Former NSW Liberal minister Michael Yabsley said the premier’s decision to wear the uniform was a “shocker” and with the benefit of hindsight, he should have put his cards on the table earlier.

“Obviously the timing is absolutely lousy,” he told the ABC.

But the former minister for Corrective Services and State Development agreed Mr Perrottet could come through the other side.

“Something that always amazes me is how quickly issues can not only be forgotten, but more often than not, forgiven,” he said.

“I don’t think it is an offence for which he should pay the price of sacrificing his leadership.”

Mr Yabsley said history suggests the Coalition has quite a fight on its hands to be re-elected for a fourth term and a spill would only make that more difficult.

But one member of the crossbench, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leader Robert Borsak, felt differently.

“You cannot apologise your way back to integrity. You have none. Get out while you still have a chance,” he said.

“Mr Perrottet is still very young, perhaps he can make a life after politics.”

Posted 8h ago8 hours agoFri 13 Jan 2023 at 6:59am, updated 7h ago7 hours agoFri 13 Jan 2023 at 8:06am