So, Who is New South Wales’ New Premier?

On Tuesday October 5^th, four days after Ms Berejiklian announced her resignation as New South Wales Premier, the Liberal Party met, and elected former Treasurer Dominic Perrottet as the party leader, making him the state’s 46th Premier, and the youngest, at just 39 years old.

So, who is he?

Mr Perrottet has been the State Treasurer since January 2017, he has guided the state through several economic crises such as drought, bushfires, and the pandemic.

Since being elected Liberal Party Leader, social media has been flooded with information breaking down his policy and personal choices.

Mr Perrottet is one of thirteen kids and has six of his own.

He graduated from Sydney university and worked as a solicitor in business law.

He is a part of the right liberal’s faction, which is considered less dominant in New South Wales and may present more challenges than any of his last three predecessors have faced.

In 2019, Mr Perrottet was against decriminalising abortion. In contrast, his new Deputy Premier Paul Toole, was in support of the legislation.

Mr Perrottet is a devout Christian, and he’s never shielded his views, which has seen heavy criticism regarding the separation of Church and State.

He’s been quoted saying he didn’t believe Priests should be obliged to report sexual abuse and he was against same sex marriage, saying a child should be brought up with a mother and a father.

He’s voiced his support for controversial former U.S President Donald Trump, in a facebook post celebrating his win at the 2016 election. Part of the post read:

"If you stand for free speech, you are not a bigot."
"If you question man-made climate change, you are not a sceptic.
"If you support stronger borders, you are not a racist.
"If you want a plebiscite on same sex marriage, you are not a homophobe.
"If you love your country, you are not an extremist."
"These are mainstream values that people should be free to articulate without fear of ridicule or persecution by the Left."

Like Ms Berejiklian, he was heavily involved with the Young Liberals in his early political career.

Most recently, Mr Perrottet has been an architect of the welfare scheme that saved many as the Delta outbreak began to take hold, the JobSaver scheme.

He’s said to have had strong conversations to Prime Minister Scott Morrison about the return of JobKeeper, requests which were ultimately denied.

He says the state’s reopening will go ahead despite the political shake up the state has seen over the span of just a few days.

Just a day after Mr Perrottet claimed leadership, the Nationals, the party which the Liberals form a coalition government with, elected its new leader, following the resignation of Mr Barilaro.

Paul Toole is now New South Wales’ Deputy Premier.

He is the Member for Bathurst, and was once the town’s Mayor and a school teacher.

He entered the Macquarie Street scene in 2011, and was appointed Minister for Local Government, and oversaw the disastrous local government mergers.

Up until his appointment as Party Leader and Deputy Premier, he was Minister for Regional Roads and Transport.

While he doesn’t have the reputation of his predecessor on Macquarie Street, he is immensely popular in regional parts of the state.

Mr Toole says he’ll lead the party in a different manner to the former Deputy Premier, Mr Barilaro, with one MP describing the two leadership styles as day and night.