Image: A death threat daubed onto a wall of Ewart's home. Photo: supplied.
By ERIN MODARO
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has admitted to wearing a Nazi costume on his 21st birthday. A member of his cabinet reportedly broached the subject, leading to the Premier calling a press conference to apologise for his behaviour.
“When I was 21 at my 21st fancy dress party, I wore a Nazi uniform”, the Premier admitted. He went on to apologise to the Jewish community for his past actions.
“I’m truly sorry for the hurt and the pain that this will cause people right across our state and particularly in the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, veterans, and their families.”
Jewish community speaks out
A peak Jewish Group in NSW have come out with a statement saying they appreciate the apology from Perrottet.
“We appreciate that the premier personally reached out to the Jewish community this afternoon to express his deep and sincere regret about his poor choice of costume as a young man” NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president, David Ossip, and chief executive, Darren Bark said.
“This incident, no matter how old, is a reminder of the need to continually educate all Australians – and particularly our youth – about the abhorrent nature of the Nazi regime and the evil perpetrated in service of the Nazi ideology.”
The Premier called his decision to dress inappropriately “naive”.
“At that age in my life I just did not understand the gravity and the hurt of what that uniform means to people, not just in our state … but around the world,” he said.
Perrottet said that he doesn’t think there are any images of himself in the uniform from the party, and added that the colleague who broached the incident was not threatening to release information to the public.
