NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet's leadership is in turmoil and the Jewish community is reeling following his revelation about wearing a Nazi uniform to his birthday party 20 years ago.
After days of rumours swirling, on Wednesday Mr Perrottet admitted to wearing a rented Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday fancy dress party in 2003.
The premier apologised and said he was "deeply ashamed" of his "mistake" and decided to come clean after a phone call from a cabinet colleague a few days ago.
A government source has since told the ABC that colleague was retiring Transport Minister David Elliott, who has had a turbulent relationship with the Premier in recent months over proposals for gambling reform.
The source said Mr Perrottet's leadership was now untenable and they don't believe he can make it to the March election as premier.
They said he must now put his fate in the hands of cabinet and potentially allow for a leadership spill.
There are more than 2,000 Holocaust survivors living in the Sydney area according to the Sydney Jewish Museum and yesterday's revelation by Mr Perrottet left the community in anguish.
"We've had members of the community in tears over this particular incident," NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark told the ABC.
The Jewish museum said it received a call from a Holocaust survivor who reached out in distress.
"[He] was mostly concerned about how future generations would take this... and conveying that it is not a past issue, it's a present and future issue," said Breann Fallon, the manager of student learning and research at the museum.
"There is a sense of worry about what kind of world we are creating," she said.
Mr Perrottet, a devout Catholic, said he wasn't sure whether a photo of him in the Nazi uniform exists, but government sources are adamant there is.
Dr Fallon, who had family targeted in the Holocaust, said the uniform was triggering for survivors, their family members and anyone involved in World War II.
"That uniform is not just an inanimate object. It is a symbol of hatred of bigotry, of genocide and discrimination and it will bring back all of those memories," she said.
"But also to see it on a leader, that's going to bring up those questions of whether we belong, which of course we do."
Dr Fallon said the inappropriateness of wearing it was not dulled by time.
"It's not something that we can just say, 'okay that happened 20 years ago'... this is something that we're going to have to carry forward ... and I do have concern whether people will look at this and think 'oh is that okay?'"
Rabbi Benjamin Elton from the Great Synagogue in Sydney said Mr Perrottet wasn't someone he would ever imagine making such a "tasteless" choice and his age at the time was relevant.
"As we know from other famous people in the world, people do foolish things when they’re young and clearly he regards this as a terrible mistake and I think it’s been torturing him for many years," he told the ABC.
Rabbi Elton said it can be difficult for non-Jews to appreciate the intense reaction the community has to the Swastika and some consider it just "another example of fancy dress".
"I’m not defending that, I’m not endorsing it, but I think if you are raised entirely detached from those who suffered in the Holocaust, in the Shoah, I don’t think its going to have the same visceral impact on you."
The Rabbi said he believed in showing compassion to the Premier for his mistake.
"In the Jewish tradition, we believe in repentance which is admitting what one did, seeing it was wrong, committing not to do it again."
Rabbi Elton said Mr Perrottet was influential in passing a law last year making it a criminal offence to knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public without a reasonable excuse.
And in October last year, Mr Perrottet called out soccer fans caught performing a Nazi salute at the Australia Cup Final, describing the behaviour as "absolutely horrendous".
Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Mr Bark also praised Mr Perrottet for securing $6 million in funding for the Sydney Jewish Museum during his time as treasurer in 2021.
"The premier has been a staunch supporter and friend of the NSW Jewish community throughout his time in public life," Mr Bark said.
Despite this support for Mr Perrottet, independent candidate for Vaucluse Karen Freyer said the incident was unforgivable.
Ms Freyer has family members who survived the Holocaust.
"The Holocaust is absolutely nothing to laugh about. There is absolutely nothing fun or funny about wearing a Nazi uniform," she told the ABC.
"A lot of people died. There isn't any excuse for wearing a Nazi uniform.”
She said Mr Perrottet would need to spend a lot of time speaking with the Jewish community to prevent serious political damage in the usually safe Liberal seat of Vaucluse.
"I would welcome him visiting the Holocaust museum and communicating that he is genuine in his apology," she said.
Julian Leeser, the first Jewish Liberal to be elected to the Australian lower house from NSW, said Mr Perrottet was better than his worst moment.
He said he had been friends with the Premier for many years and he was now "a world away" from the "arrogant, ignorant, heartless and mean-spirited actions of a university student".
"I have long believed we need more of what Christians call grace and Jews refer to as ‘chessed’ in our national life. Grace that accepts we all make mistakes, often when we are young, and as importantly, we learn from them," Mr Leeser said in a statement.
Federal Labor MP for Macarthur Mike Freelander, who is also Jewish, agreed Mr Perrottet was entitled to forgiveness.
"It's really good he's apologised, young people do stupid things," Mr Freelander told the ABC.
"His apology to me sounded very sincere and he's entitled to forgiveness."
The Jewish chairman of Australia's leading civil rights organisation, the Anti-Defamation Commission, also accepted the Premier's apology as "heartfelt" but said wearing the uniform at any age was an affront.
Dvir Abramovich said the commission had been fighting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial since 1979 and Mr Perrottet's "shameful" act demonstrated the importance of mandatory Holocaust education for young people.
Mr Abramovich said violence and vilification of the Jewish community was at an all-time high in Australia.
"I hope that when he has the opportunity, that Mr Perrottet meets with Holocaust survivors and visits Auschwitz in order to understand first-hand the evils and inhumanity of that period."
Acting Prime Minister Jim Chalmers described the revelations as a "shocker" and said it was appropriate that Mr Perrottet had apologised for it.
"But obviously a pretty, a pretty shocking revelation, and very hurtful, no doubt to a whole bunch of communities and people more broadly."
Labor leader Chris Minns declined the ABC's request for comment as did Liberal MP and chair of the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel Scott Farlow.
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