Early career

Following the resignation of sitting Liberal MP Michael Richardson, Perrottet won Liberal preselection for the very safe Liberal seat of Castle Hill in November 2010, with the backing of right-wing power broker David Clarke.^[16] Clarke battled against Alex Hawke, Federal Member for Mitchell, to gain control of preselections.^[17][18] At the 2011 state election, Perrottet was elected with a swing of 12.2 points, winning 80.8 per cent of the two-party vote.^[19]

With the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as premier,^[20] and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal leader,^[8] Perrottet was appointed as Minister for Finance and Services in April 2014.^[5][21][22]

Following a redistribution of electoral boundaries, Perrottet traded seats with fellow Liberal Ray Williams for the 2015 state election. Perrottet handed Castle Hill to Williams to run in Williams' equally safe seat of Hawkesbury.^[23] Perrottet was elected with 68 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.^[24]

After the resignation of Baird as Premier,^[25] the main factions of the NSW Liberals agreed to support his deputy, Gladys Berejiklian, as his successor, with Perrottet as her deputy. Berejiklian is from the party's moderate wing, while Perrottet is from the conservative wing. Accordingly, on 23 January 2017, Berejiklian and Perrottet were unanimously elected as leader and deputy leader of the NSW Liberal Party.^[26] Later that day, Berejiklian was sworn in as New South Wales' second female Premier.^[27][28][29] When Berejiklian reshuffled her ministry, Perrottet took over her former ministerial roles as Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations, with effect from 30 January 2017.^[6]

In the lead up to the 2019 state election, Perrottet attempted to wrest Castle Hill back from Williams, citing work-life balance as Hawkesbury was too far for him to travel. This was unsuccessful, with Williams retaining the Liberal preselection, and resulted in media reports of significant party infighting and Perrottet publicly apologising. Eventually, Perrottet abandoned the Hawkesbury preselection, and he settled on his second-choice, the equally safe seat of Epping.^[30][31][32] At the 2019 state election Perrottet was elected as Member for Epping and reappointed as Treasurer in the second Berejiklian ministry.^[33]

icare controversy

Perrottet's record as NSW Treasurer was marred by allegations that his department mismanaged the state's workers compensation scheme, icare. A combined investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC TV's Four Corners found that icare had underpaid as many as 52,000 injured workers by up to $80 million and that the organisation was close to collapse.^[34] Following the investigation, NSW's workers' compensation regulator State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) announced in August 2020 that it would be applying increased scrutiny to icare's 2020 financial audit.^[35] icare was also accused of improperly handling private sector contracts. The Information and Privacy Commission NSW found that icare had not publicly registered 422 contracts since 2015, each worth more than $150,000. These contracts include some being awarded without a competitive tender to companies associated with Liberal Party figures, such as marketing firm IVE Group being awarded millions of dollars in contracts. IVE Group is run by former NSW Liberal party president Geoff Selig.^[36]

An internal note among senior figures in the NSW Treasury in 2018 raised a concern that "a direct line to [Perrottet] means icare often bypasses Treasury". The Sydney Morning Herald reported on the note in 2020 and noted that other concerns raised included icare's non-compliance with recruitment policies and limited disclosures of capital expenditures. Scrutiny of Perrottet's close relationship with icare prompted him to direct Treasury Secretary Michael Pratt to audit the Treasurer's staffing arrangements, which the NSW Labor Party criticised as a "sham" as the Secretary was a former deputy chairman of icare.^[37][38]

In April 2021 the NSW parliament's Law and Justice Committee tabled its 2020 review of the Workers' Compensation Scheme. The report highlighted the deteriorating financial position of the scheme, a fall in return to work rates and an increase in claim costs, including medical expenses. The committee's chairman said "icare's decision and ambitious approach to implementing a new claims management model has also played a role, to the detriment of injured workers and the public". A statutory review by the NSW Government was released on the same day, with the reviewer the Hon Robert McDougall QC saying execution of the program was "sloppy" and "the result of these shortcomings was that procurements for the [Nominal Insurer]—often involving very large sums of money—were conducted on an opaque basis".^[39]

COVID-19 pandemic

Perrottet advocated strongly for business activity in the face of lockdowns and advice from health officials. During the northern beaches lockdown at the end of 2020, he suggested that the state's chief health officer, Kerry Chant, take a pay cut if Sydney or its suburbs were unnecessarily locked down.^[40] Perrottet also pushed the federal government to reinstate JobKeeper payments for Sydney residents in July 2021 as a new wave of infections was beginning.^[41]

As Treasurer, Perrottet has been one of the architects of the JobSaver program and has overseen micro business support payments, payroll tax waivers and deferrals, vouchers for spending in CBD businesses and other support for businesses affected by the epidemic.^[42][43][44]

Perrottet opposed his cabinet colleagues and the advice of NSW Health when they extended a COVID lockdown on 7 July 2021.^[45]

In early October 2021, after becoming premier, Perrottet unveiled an accelerated roadmap out of lockdown with some key changes to attendance limits at indoor and outdoor gatherings.^[46][47] The changes were not endorsed by the NSW Chief Health Officer, who had warned that the changes came with increased risks but that it was ultimately a decision for the government.

Nazi uniform scandal

On 12 January 2023, Perrottet revealed that he had worn a Nazi uniform as fancy dress at his 21st birthday, apologising at a media conference after a cabinet minister was made aware of the incident.^[64][65] Rumours circulated that a photo of Perrottet and the uniform had been uncovered, but Perrottet denied any knowledge of the photograph and stated that his parents explained to him why the costume was inappropriate the day after the party. Transport Minister David Elliott stated that he had warned Perrottet about his political opponents knowing that he had worn the uniform and one of them was conspiring to use it against him.^[66]

A poll found that 67% said the Nazi uniform scandal would not make a difference to their vote, 20% said it would make then less likely to vote for the Coalition and 8% said the scandal would make them more likely to vote for the Coalition.^[67]

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party will refer Perrottet to the NSW Police Force regarding whether Perrottet disclosed wearing a Nazi uniform as fancy dress at his 21st birthday as part of his preselection bid. At the time, Perrottet declared he had nothing to disclose that could embarrass the Liberal Party. Robert Borsak, the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, argued that this could have potentially broken the Oaths Act, which is punishable by up to 5 years in jail.^[68]

2023 state election loss and resignation as Liberal leader

As much of the vote came in for the election, speculation emerged if Perrottet would maintain his seat of Epping after there was 'tossup' between Labor candidate Alan Mascarenhas and himself. Eventually, ABC's Antony Green announced that Perrottet would retain his seat with a ~8-point swing to Labor, challenging a traditionally 'safe' Liberal seat.^[69]

Perrottet's Liberal–National coalition lost the election to Chris Minns and the Labor Party on 25 March 2023, ending over twelve years of Liberal/National rule. Tasmania was to then be the only state within Australia under Liberal control.^[70]

As counting continued on election night it soon became clear that only Labor could realistically form government and the only question was if it would be a majority or minority Government. Perrottet conceded the election to Minns and resigned as NSW Liberal leader. In his concession speech he described the election as a "race to the top" and "battle of ideas."