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The 2022 NSW election campaign is officially underway today, as state Premier Dominic Perrottet was officially asked a difficult question from a member of the media.
This marks the first time a NSW Premier confronted tricky queries from a journalist since the former leader Gladys Berejeklian was asked questions about her break up with the controversial Wagga MP Darryl Maguire.
Up until this point of the election cycle, the only media outlets tightening the screws on Perrottet were the ClubsNSW newsletter – who have obviously taken great issue with is decision to limit the amount of money that can be laundered by criminals through the pokie machines that keep their coffers filled to the brim.
However, today, Perrottet was hit with the medium pace – as opposed to the softballs he’s usually given by Murdoch’s NewsCorp and Costello’s Channel Nine.
The journalist, who has since been expelled from the Press Gallery and blacklisted from every commercial media company in Australia, was believed to have asked the Premier a question about a recent recording that has been leaked of Former Deputy Premier John Barilaro proudly referring to himself as ‘Pork-Barilaro’.
The self-given nickname is in reference to his alleged habit of recklessly dishing out tax-payer dollars for localised projects secured solely to win votes, also known as ‘Pork-Barrelling’.
The recording, which will likely be shared in the social media comments of this story, appears to throw a damning spanner in the works for the NSW Liberal Party’s election pitch in the final week of campaign.
This may be the reason why none of the major commercial mastheads have asked this question, or even acknowledged the recording exists.
However, with one self-destructive journalist willing to quiz the Premier in a live press conference today, it seems Perrottet found himself exposed.
The 40-year-old Premier, who outed himself as a vaper last week, responded to the question by busting out a phat cloud of vape smoke – in the shape of a ring.
His skills as a vape-master clearly showed a commitment to ingesting Chinese-made disposable nicotine dispensers, and drew a polite applause from the crowd.
The journalist has since been sacked, tarred and feathered.
