In a torrid 48 hours for the government,the suspension followed Damien Tudehope’s resignation as finance minister on Friday after it emerged he owned shares in Transurban,which controls most of Sydney’s toll roads. Tudehope had been involved in cabinet policy decisions about Transurban.
Poulos apologised to fellow Liberal MP Robyn Preston for sending the explicit photos to other party members. The pictures were from aPenthousemagazine “pet” shoot she modelled for in the 1980s. He also resigned from his parliamentary secretary role on Friday.
On Saturday morning,Premier Dominic Perrottet effectively called for Poulos to be disendorsed,telling reporters he was “appalled,horrified and disgusted” by the MP’s actions and the Liberal Party ought to “act appropriately” regarding his candidacy.
“I’m obviously very close with Robyn Preston;she’s worked for me,we’ve been friends for a very long period of time,and I know the distress at that time that that caused her,” Perrottet said.
It was a dramatic change of tune from earlier in the week,when Perrottet said of Poulos that “people make mistakes” and “no one is perfect”.
Later on Saturday,the NSW Liberal Party announced Poulos had been suspended following discussions between state director Chris Stone and party president Maria Kovacic.