Senior politicians in the New South Wales Liberal party supported the work of a group of young conservative power brokers who sought to take control of the party and move it towards the right, the corruption watchdog has heard.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) began its Operation Rosny hearings into allegations of corruption against people associated with the NSW Liberal party on Monday.
It is investigating three allegations, including that Liberal figures “solicited or accepted” donations, including from prohibited donors, in amounts which were undeclared or exceeded caps, to recruit or renew members to the party – a practice known as “branch stacking”.
In her opening statement, the counsel assisting the commission, Peggy Dwyer SC, said this “core group” of young Liberal staffers and lobbyists who called themselves the “Reformers” included lobbyist Christian Ellis, consultant Robert Assaf, and Jean-Claude Perrottet, the younger brother of former Liberal premier, Dominic Perrottet.
Another man, lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood, allegedly facilitated the Reformers’ receipt of funds.
Dwyer said evidence would show “a number of senior politicians in the NSW Liberal party supported the work of the Reformers, including by speaking at their events or otherwise facilitating the work they did in recruiting and renewal for branches”.
She said the group hosted recruitment functions at which special guests, including former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, broadcaster Alan Jones and Catholic Schools NSW chief executive, Dallas McInerney, spoke on “conservative and/or religious issues”.
She said a document made when Ellis was a staffer in the office of federal Nationals senator Matt Canavan “set out the mission of the NSW Reformers as, I quote: ‘taking back our nation through good government’.”
The document proposed recruiting 5,000 Christian conservatives to join NSW Liberal party branches, “and thereby take control of the NSW division of the Liberal party”, said Dwyer.
Dwyer alleged the plans included having every winnable seat at state elections held by a member of the party’s conservative faction, controlling 75% of the party’s state executive and 60% of its state council. It noted that before the 2019 election, 11 out of 50 state representatives and 26.2% of the party’s state council were from the right.
Abbott, Jones and Canavan are not accused of any wrongdoing. Dwyer said while branch-stacking was not in itself corrupt conduct, “the problem is when those funds come from prohibited political donations, which exceed the applicable cap, and/or come from a prohibited donor”.
She said the commission would investigate whether companies, including former registered lobbying company Beckington, set up by Greenwood and Ellis after the latter’s termination from Canavan’s office, were used to collect illegal donations towards branch-stacking efforts.
Donations included those allegedly made by hotelier and prohibited donor Michael O’Hara’s company Paslibdan Pty Ltd, on his behalf, as well as by Catholic Schools NSW, arranged and approved by McInerney.
Dwyer alleged that nine days before Beckington was registered in July 2019, Greenwood messaged McInerney to “say thanks for all the help you’ve given Christian and I. It’s really set us up in a good spot”. McInerney allegedly replied: “Happy days.”
Catholic Schools NSW became Beckington’s first client, with Dwyer alleging that “purported payments of retainers for which no substantive services were provided … amounted to a sham”. She said it was not suggested that Catholic Schools NSW as a body, was responsible or its board members were aware.
McInerney is a factional ally of Angus Taylor, who is not accused of any wrongdoing. In a statement reported by the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 July, McInerney said he had offered to stand aside “to allow the work of Catholic Schools NSW to continue its important mission”.
The fugitive property developer
The corruption watchdog is examining a second allegation that between 2020 and 2023, fugitive property developer Jean Nassif and his company, Toplace, made prohibited donations solicited or accepted by Liberals “in exchange for the pursuit of outcomes sought by Mr Nassif”.
The allegations, investigated by a 2023 parliamentary inquiry which preceded Icac’s current examination of “possible offences under the Electoral Funding Act”, were first made public at a 2022 speech in parliament by the Liberal MP for Kellyville, Ray Williams.
He alleged senior members of the party had been “paid significant funds” to install new councillors on the Hills Shire council to support applications by Nassif and his company Toplace. Following Williams’s speech, the then Liberal premier, Dominic Perrottet, referred the allegations to Icac.
On Monday, Dwyer revealed legally intercepted communications, including WhatsApp messages and phone calls between Nassif and two of Perrottet’s brothers, Jean-Claude and Charles Perrottet, had been referred to Icac by police the day before Williams’s speech.
Dominic Perrottet is not accused of any wrongdoing, while Jean-Claude and Charles Perrottet have previously denied any wronging.
Dwyer said the parliamentary inquiry could not reach firm conclusions about allegations, “in part because key figures central to the allegations were found to have left the jurisdiction, and/or to have deliberately avoided cooperating with process servers”.
She said Charles Perrottet lived in Victoria and declined to avoid to return to NSW, while Jean-Claude Perrottet had travelled to Fiji “with financial assistance from others named in the allegation”. “Ellis went to significant lengths to avoid process servers by staying near the NSW-Victorian border” she said.
Dwyer said Ellis had since moved to the UK, and thus far declined to give oral evidence to Icac’s inquiry, citing “family responsibilities and different time zone”.
She read out transcripts of legally intercepted communications and played recordings of phone calls during her opening statement. She gave an example of an exchange between Greenwood and Jean-Claude Perrottet regarding funds allegedly received from Catholic Schools NSW.
On 12 January 2023, Greenwood allegedly wrote to Jean-Claude: “Hey, so you know how I’m good to you and help you and give you all your filthy schools’ money and put up with your fucking whining?”
Dwyer said Jean-Claude wrote back: “Don’t put that in writing.”
Greenwood allegedly replied: “It deletes.”
“That message is one of thousands obtained by the commission,” said Dwyer.
The inquiry will look at a third allegation, that two Labor Strathfield councillors, Sharangan Maheswaran and Karen Pensabene, engaged in conduct towards a fellow councillor, Matthew Blackmore, in a way “that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of their official functions and/or a breach of public trust, including conduct which could involve blackmail” and possible breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
Michael O’Hara is a witness on Monday in the first of at least eight weeks of hearings. Former Liberal staffer Dylan Whitelaw and Robert Assaf are due to appear later in the week.
