NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has taken a couple of cheeky swipes at Queensland after his state’s loss in Wednesday’s State of Origin decider.
The Maroons emerged the 22-12 victors over the Blues, seizing the 2022 series with the win Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium – leaving Mr Perrottet with a bit of a lighting issue.
He and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had a wager on the winner – with the Sydney Harbour Bridge to turn maroon if Queensland won and Brisbane’s Story Bridge to light up in blue if it was a NSW victory.
Mr Perrottet took to Twitter on Thursday morning to confirm he would hold up his end of the bargain and the harbour bridge would light up in Queensland’s honour on Friday night.
Tweet from @Dom_Perrottet
“Credit to Queensland, and hats off to our boys – they gave it everything and did us all proud,” he wrote.
But, Mr Perrottet – who had earlier claimed he hadn’t even heard of Brisbane’s Story Bridge – was unable to resist a further dig at the northern state.
“Just like paying a hotel quarantine bill … an agreement is an agreement,” he wrote.
Tweet from @AnnastaciaMP
The jibe relates to a long-running dispute between NSW and Queensland about an unpaid $30 million hotel quarantine bill. It is the cost of accommodating thousands of Queenslanders who did hotel quarantine in NSW in the early days of the pandemic.
Mr Perrottet told SkyNews in November last year that Queensland should honour the bill – after the sunshine state’s deputy premier, Steven Miles ripped it up on TV.
“We’ve done the heavy lifting here in NSW. The majority of people who have flown into Australia flew into Sydney,” he said.
Mr Perrottet was also unable to resist a second dig at the State of Origin winners later on Thursday. After official employment data was released, showing Australia’s jobless rate had fallen to a near-50-year low, he posted another cheeky comparison with his northern neighbour.
Tweet from @Dom_Perrottet
“Last night’s stats are still painful to look at,” he wrote
“But today’s stat lines are looking good – historically good – with NSW recording our lowest unemployment rate in history.
“That’s nothing but a huge win for the people of our state.”
