NSW's premier-in-waiting Dominic Perrottet has not ruled out changing the state's COVID-19 roadmap, just one week before fully vaccinated people are due to get a swathe of new freedoms.
Key points:
- Planning Minister Rob Stokes is expected to also contest the leadership
- Gladys Berejiklian's resignation on Friday prompted the search for a new leader
- NSW has a staged exit out COVID, with freedoms allowed at 70 and 80 per cent of double vaccination coverage
Mr Perrottet, the deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer, yesterday evening announced he would run for the party's top job when MPs hold a ballot on Tuesday.
The successful candidate will become NSW premier and while Mr Perrottet is expected to face a challenge from Planning Minister Rob Stokes, the ABC understands the contest will be a formality.
Under a deal struck at the weekend, Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres will be deputy leader and Matt Kean will become treasurer.
AAP: Bianca De Marchi
)The election of a new NSW Liberal leader comes after Gladys Berejiklian's shock resignation on Friday following an announcement by NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) it was investigating her.
Mr Perrottet has been a member of the NSW government's COVID-19 crisis cabinet — alongside Coalition powerbrokers like Stuart Ayres, John Barilaro, Victor Dominello and Brad Hazzard — and has had a significant hand in shaping the state's pandemic response.
But when he was asked whether he would change any of the government's roadmap, Mr Perrottet would not be drawn on his plans.
"I don't want to pre-empt the situation we are in at the moment … If we are successful, we will work through these issues," he said.
"I am completely focused, and have been as this time as Treasurer on keeping people safe, that we keep people in jobs, and we keep businesses open.
"More importantly for many families across the state, we get kids back to school as soon as possible."
NSW's blueprint to living with the virus was announced last month and set out what restrictions would ease when 70 per cent and 80 per cent of the population aged 16 and over were fully vaccinated.
From next week, people with two jabs currently living in one of NSW's COVID-19 lockdowns will be able to do things like visit restaurants, bars and gyms and have visitors in their homes.
AAP: Joel Carrett, Dean Lewins
)Caps on outdoor gatherings will also be relaxed, the 5km limit on non-essential travel will be scrapped and the definition of who constitutes a close contact will be overhauled.
Mr Stokes said if he became Premier, he would not change the plan.
Greater Sydney and its surrounds have been in lockdown for 101 days, while many regional areas are also living under the same restrictions and dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks.
In one of her last addresses as Premier, Ms Berejiklian said NSW was about to enter "uncharted" territory as it began living with the virus, and the state could not afford to "stuff up" its exit from lockdown.
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2021-10-03 20:06:19Z
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