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 Liberal, 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”.
Dwyer 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.
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.
The commission will also investigate Greenwood’s company JPG Advisory, which is still active on the register of federal and NSW lobbyists.
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.
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”.
Over two years, Catholic Schools allegedly paid $130,900 to Beckington, before switching to JPG Advisory and paying a total of $135,000 between 2021 and 2023.
Dwyer said it was not suggested that Catholic Schools NSW as a body was responsible for McInerney’s alleged actions, or its board members were aware of them.
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 alleged outcomes include damage to the political career of the former Liberal state transport minister David Elliott, the removal of the then building commissioner, David Chandler, and the obstruction of Chandler’s duties in relation to Toplace developments.
Dwyer said the evidence would show that Ellis, Greenwood and Charles Perrottet, another brother of the former premier, anticipated receiving $2m from Nassif “which was intended to be distributed evenly between them”.
The inquiry heard legally intercepted phone calls featuring Nassif in which he claimed he had “forced” the abolition of centre-right faction member Elliott’s seat, Baulkham Hills. Dwyer alleged that Nassif, believing he had paid for Chandler’s removal, told a friend: “I’m gonna fuck him [Chandler] sideways.”
Dwyer said Nassif, who has denied any wrongdoing, remains in Lebanon since departing Australia in December 2022 and has declined an invitation to speak to the watchdog. In 2023, NSW police issued a warrant for his arrest in relation to allegations of criminal fraud at Toplace.
The allegations, first 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 wrondoing.
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 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 during her opening statement including 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.
O’Hara was the only witness on Monday in the first of at least eight weeks of hearings.
He admitted under questioning to a fake arrangement in which he paid Beckington for “strategic wealth strategy investment advice” but questioned whether the payments to the Reformers were to the NSW Liberals or should be considered political donations.
“From my point of view, the consultancy was that [Ellis] was to go and do his best to get my conservative values into the Liberal party,” said O’Hara, who described Dominic Perrottet as a member of the same conservative right faction before “he went woke”.
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.
The inquiry continues on Tuesday, when it will hear from former Liberal staffer and Beckington employee Dylan Whitelaw.
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