Immigration drove economic growth for the federal government,but “it’s lazy economics,simply having immigration as a Ponzi scheme,just adding people rather than driving productivity. As a state we pick up that tab … and the states should be receiving support”.

Sydney would struggle to house the big numbers of immigrants expected over the next 10 years,“let alone Australians. We can’t have an Australia that can’t house its children”.

Late last year,the Albanese government announced it would reduce infrastructure funding to the states,andleft NSW stunned when it walked away from a critical road project in western Sydney.

As Premier Chris Minnsfaces a backlash from councils and residents over new policies to turbocharge building,including allowing six-storey apartments within 400-metre radiuses around dozens of train stations,Perrottet said councils should be given incentives.

He had some sympathy forrebelling North Shore residents, given most transport investment over the past decade had been in the west,and they had an “old road in the Pacific Highway – one of the worst roads in Sydney – and an old rail line”.

Perrottet,a father of seven,said Sydney needed a balance of housing,as apartments were attractive to younger people but “we need to make sure that there is still opportunity for suburbia,so people have a backyard and front yard for their kids to run around”.

He also said one of Minns’ greatest challenges would be to ensure notoriously siloed departments within the public service worked together.

Perrottet has not spoken publicly since the March 2023 election but broke his silence on Thursday,when he contributed to the condolence motion for late Labor treasurer Michael Egan in parliament and later discussed the housing crisis with former Labor premier Bob Carr at the lunch.

The former premier said he was “incredibly sad” to watch former Coalition prime ministers focusing on themselves and party division in the ABC television seriesNemesis,and he said politicians hoped to leave office with a positive sense of their contribution.

“Eventually,you’re going to lose an election but you look back and reflect on all the positive things,there are obviously mistakes that we made but ultimately I think we did more good than bad.”