His colleagues were well aware he did not support such a measure. Elliott stayed out of it until last week,when he was asked for his views at an unrelated press conference.He was unequivocal. While agreeing problem gambling was a significant issue,Elliott stressed he did not want poker machines to be demonised or singled out as the only damaging form of gaming.
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His comments,the first he had made on the issue,stunned many people (Perrottet included). Several days later theHerald was alerted to a LinkedIn profile of Elliott’s son,who is an employee of the gambling technology giant Aristocrat.TheHerald ran the story that Elliott would recuse himself from cabinet to ensure no conflict of interest. Elliott was incandescent with theHerald and Perrottet,who he blamed that night on Channel Seven’s 6pm news bulletin of planting the story as payback for his poker machine comments.
Herald editor Bevan Shields said the story did not originate from Perrottet. “This was just good journalism,” he said. “There is no conspiracy here. TheHerald has been leading the charge on coverage of poker machine reform,and a senior cabinet minister recusing himself from discussion about a policy he has expressed strong opposition to is a no-brainer story in my book.”
Several days later,Elliott phoned Perrottet on Tuesday night to tell him about a rumour that had been swirling on social media since Christmas. That rumour was that an incriminating photo of Perrottet at his 21st was going to be released by some of his Liberal opponents within his own Right faction.
Perrottet has not divulged the details of his conversation with Elliott (although he has stressed it was not threatening),but a source with knowledge of the conversation said Perrottet was dumbfounded. He had no idea of the rumour,and he immediately felt sick. It was enough to force the premier to publicly reveal a humiliating secret he had harboured for two decades.
Over the next 24 hours,and after a sleepless night,Perrottet knew he had to front the media and reveal his horror mistake before someone else beat him to it. His closest cabinet colleagues had no idea until he delivered the bombshell,although he told the treasurer and moderate powerbroker Matt Kean,who was by his side,just hours before he made the revelation. Perrottet also called the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies before the press conference.
Despite the recent bad blood between Perrottet and Elliott,it was unlikely the transport minister had intimate details of the rumour because he is no friend of the Right faction. That faction in Perrottet’s home patch of Sydney’s north-west had ended Elliott’s political career,so it made no sense that he would have teamed with them to hurt the premier.
Former NSW Liberal leader Peter Collins,who once employed Elliott as a media adviser,agrees with that assessment,insisting the transport minister had an obligation to alert Perrottet of a looming problem.
“There’s no way David Elliott should be made a scapegoat,he was doing his duty of giving the premier early warning of a negative story,” Collins said.
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Rather,in what is a far bigger concern for Perrottet,it was his own faction who was working on a plan to damage him,according to several senior right-wing figures,who spoke to theHerald on the condition of anonymity.
The unrest has been brewing for some time and much of the internal woes,which one right-wing figure described as “savage”,is centred around bitter preselections. The faction is split.
In a bid to avoid a repeat of the federal election,Perrottet wanted more Liberal women on the upper house ticket. He tasked his right-wing lieutenant and conservative elder Finance Minister Damien Tudehope to land a deal with the moderates.
After one false start,that deal was sealed on December 27. The ticket would have three women,but their inclusion would come at the cost of three sitting male MPs,including two right-wingers,Lou Amato and the upper house president Matthew Mason-Cox. Fury erupted.
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Discontent had also been bubbling in the conservative wing of the Liberals after the nomination of a right-wing candidate for the lower house was blocked by the party’s nomination review committee.
Conservative lawyer Noel McCoy had been favoured to win preselection in the ultra-safe Liberal seat of Castle Hill,but had his nomination disallowed because he criticised the Berejiklian government’s pandemic lockdowns. An appeal to the state executive in late December was also rejected.
McCoy had been expected to win the coveted seat after using his support in the hard-right faction to edge out centre-right rival and sitting member Elliott. McCoy told allies that Perrottet had wanted him to be the Castle Hill candidate and his experience further angered right-wingers.
“The Right is very fractured,there is huge disillusionment towards Dom and Damien,” a long-term right-wing source said. “Dom doesn’t have many friends left in the Right,only people in the Left are supporting him. Damien is Dom’s go-between and messenger but he just hasn’t been very effective.”
Another disgruntled right-wing figure said the faction was “beyond furious” at the preselection process – and at Perrottet. “There are people in the Right who are trying to make sure Dom doesn’t win and are talking about a post-election world where Dom is not the leader.
“They have the view that they would rather lose than win and have him as premier after March”.
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