LIGHTNING is not supposed to strike twice, but NSW Liberal premiers have certainly found a series of unusual ways to embarrass themselves when in the top job.
Barry O'Farrell resigned after being questioned at ICAC over the gift of a single bottle of Grange wine.
Gladys Berejiklian shocked the state - if not the nation - when she betrayed her buttoned-down image to confirm a hidden long-term relationship with disgraced Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
And now Dominic Perrottet - who at the time of writing is still holding on to his job - has found himself in front of a braying press pack to disclose that he wore a Nazi uniform to his own 21st birthday party, a "uniform" themed fancy dress affair.
He's not the first public figure to pay for a Nazi dress-up. Prince Harry, who is currently wreaking revenge on the Royal Family, was pilloried in 2005 when he was photographed as a 20-year-old at a fancy-dress party kitted out as a member of Rommel's Afrika Corps.
The incident is featured in the prince's new biography, Spare, and could possibly have jogged someone's memory as far as the premier is concerned. By calling yesterday's press conference, Mr Perrottet was able to keep control of "the narrative".
Better he tell the electorate than for voters to wake up to news leaked by his political enemies, possibly armed with a photo from that night back in 2003, when the young man who now leads the state suffered what he says he soon recognised was an appalling lapse of judgement.
Does anything that happened that night constitute a serious reason as to why Mr Perrottet should not continue in the top job? Unless there are further "lapses" to be disclosed, the Newcastle Herald would answer that question with a "no".
But with the Coalition well behind in the polls - and with the prompting for Mr Perrottet to go public coming from his own side of politics - the Liberals will presumably look long and hard at their various options.
The ALP, meanwhile, will look how best to use this somewhat loaded political gift.
In a world where many see threats to Western principles of liberal democracy, authoritarian political systems are not simply matters of history. We are fortunate indeed to live in a country where the average citizen still has a say in their own governance.
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