His family was from Darwin, but had been evacuated to Perth due to the threat of Japanese attack during World War II.

Perron was born on 5 February, two weeks before the bombing of Darwin, and he would later jokingly blame "the Japanese for denying him his birthright as a Territorian.

As self-government was not granted to the Northern Territory until 1978,[4] until then the ministers under Majority Leaders Goff Letts and Paul Everingham were known as Executive Members.

Perron was Attorney-General when the discovery of a matinee jacket near Ayers Rock (Uluru) raised doubts about the conviction of Lindy Chamberlain for the alleged murder of her infant daughter Azaria.

Perron announced Chamberlain's immediate release from prison, and the establishment of a Royal Commission into the convictions of Lindy and her husband Michael.

An advocate for voluntary euthanasia,[7] Perron was instrumental in devising the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill which he introduced to Parliament on 22 February 1995.