NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has wanted, and expected, the deputy leadership of the Liberals since before Dominic Perrottet became premier. Kean missed out the first time, but he was not going to let that happen again.
The unashamedly ambitious Kean was sure he had the role secured after the fall of his friend Gladys Berejiklian, but a late factional deal last year saw now dumped trade minister Stuart Ayres snatch the position from him.
Treasurer Matt Kean has long coveted the deputy leadership of the party.Credit:Kate Geraghty
On Tuesday, Kean finally secured the deputy role, which one minister mocked as nothing more than a “participation ribbon”, with the support of the Liberal party room. Grandiose it may sound, but the role has few formal functions other than carrying out menial party work for the premier.
However, more enticing to Kean was probably the fact the two most recent deputies, Berejiklian and Perrottet, were in the box seat when the premier before them fell. There is no doubt Kean sees himself as a future leader.
When Kean missed out last year, Perrottet sold it to him as the government needed a strong western Sydney representative in the leadership team. But with Ayres, the Penrith MP, now on the backbench, it seems geography is no longer important. Kean is from the Liberal heartland seat of Hornsby.
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Kean has branded himself as a climate change warrior and a champion of women. He has been successful in filling policy voids for women that have been previously ignored, including a major intervention into childcare.
However, Kean has failed to sort his own house. The two recent casual vacancies filled in the upper house were both handed to men. They were spots to be filled by his moderate faction of him, but Kean did not seek out women.
Kean, for all his talk – including making demands on corporates to put more women on boards – was not prepared to forgo his ambition to promote a woman to the deputy leadership.