Dominic Perrottet on poking the ClubsNSW beast: ‘I didn’t start with many friends’

Dominic Perrottet sits down with Guardian Australia at the Crows Nest Hotel in Sydney. Photograph: The Guardian

In the first Liberal party room meeting after Dominic Perrottet vowed to take on New South Wales’ powerful club lobby through a move to cashless poker machine gaming, he got a taste of what he was up against.

“As one member said to me, there are four levels of government in their electorate,” the premier recalls. “Federal government, state government, local government and clubs. And therein lies the problem.”