Ever since Dominic Perrottet made an abrupt apology last week for wearing a Nazi uniform costume to his 21st birthday party, rumours have circulated that there is photographic evidence of his costume tribute to the far-right German political party.
One anonymous Liberal leak Twitter account even claimed to have seen the photograph (and claims the image also features other prominent people) amid reporting that Perrottet’s colleagues believe the emergence of the controversy is an “internal hit job”.
One image has circulated on social media of an old photograph showing a man wearing glasses in a Nazi uniform which some purport to depict the future NSW premier. Crikey can confirm this is not a photograph of a young Perrottet. It is, remarkably, an altered image of another conservative politician who suggested that he donned full Nazi regimentals for a costume party.
A reverse image search shows that a version of the image without glasses has been online at least since April 2022 when the UK-based Jewish News first published a photograph of the chair of the Enfield Southgate branch of the Conservative Party, Colin Davis, wearing a Nazi uniform in a residential backyard. It’s not clear when the photograph was altered to add glasses.
Davis, who was suspended from the party, denied having far-right politics and claimed that he couldn’t remember why he was photographed wearing the uniform.
“I have no recollection of this at all. Yes, there were various wild parties, very perverse themes expressed … I can’t absolutely rule it out,” he told Jewish News.
Perrottet said his decision to wear the uniform was a “grave and terrible mistake”.
“I’m deeply ashamed of what I did, and I’m truly sorry for the hurt and the pain that this will cause people right across our state and particularly the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors,” he said on Thursday.
