Source : Perth Now news
A former NSW Liberal senior minister subject of a factional fight allegedly waged by property developer Jean Nassif has lashed the fugitive, as allegations ensnaring the highest echelons of the party are subject to a corruption inquiry.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating allegations a secretive conservative faction of the NSW Liberal Party – known as the Reformers – accepted prohibited donations from Mr Nassif and others in an effort to boost Christian membership through branch-stacking.
The inquiry has previously heard phone calls in which Mr Nassif boasted about damaging former police and transport minister David Elliot’s political career and that of then-Building Commissioner David Chandler.
Mr Elliot, who told the inquiry he was part of the party’s centre-right faction, held several portfolios in government, including police and transport, until his seat was abolished as part of redistribution before the 2023 election. He chose not to recontest the new seat.
Under questioning, Mr Elliot – who is not accused of any wrongdoing – outlined attempts he said he took to keep property developers in the The Hills at arms lengths, because of both concerns about the “actual risk of corruption, but also the perception” of corruption.
Mr Elliott outlined an attempt by a woman working for Mr Nassif who approached him in 2019 and said “she would be happy to have some people support my fundraising activities”.
“I asked her how and she said, ‘oh, we’ve got ways of doing it’. That was probably the only covert way it was ever raised with me,” he said.
He went on to say he had never had “a conversation – certainly a civilised one – with Jean Nassif”.
“Nothing positive ever comes from my conversations about Jean Nassif,” he said.
He told the inquiry Mr Nassif’s ex-wife Nissy Nassif as being “desperate for my wife and I” to attend a charity event and become friends.
Nassif went ‘nuts’
Earlier, he described Mr Nassif as having gone “nuts” after his Cherrybrook development was “knocked back”.
Mr Elliot said he was approached by Mr Nassif while he was serving as police minister sometime in 2021.
“I left home to do some errands … and was leaving the car park at the bottom of the stairs,” he said.
“He was behind me and yelled, ‘Mr Elliott, Mr Elliott’ and I turned around.
“I vaguely recognised him, but, you know, I was in a hurry to get home, and he said, ‘well, you know who I am’.
“And, I said, ‘not really’. And, he said, I’m ‘Jean Nassif, I need to speak to you about my development’. And, I just said to him, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t speak to developers’.”
About 12 months later, Mr Elliot said he was at a bar when Mr Nassif “marches in and heads straight to me”.
Mr Elliot said Mr Nassif said he had demanded to speak to him.
Asked if he was aware of Mr Nassif of having been stopped from attending a Liberal Party event, where he would have been seated with former prime minister Scott Morrison and former premier Dominic Perrottet, Mr Elliot said he was not aware of it, but that “I would have loved to have been there”.
Mr Elliot described himself as being against overdevelopment in The Hills, where much of Mr Nassif’s business interests are.
He had advised people meeting with developers to “pay for the coffee and preferably, if you’re going to meet with them, make sure they’re plenty of witnesses”.
He told the ICAC hearing a number of Facebook pages in his former electorate had raised concerns about workmanship at Mr Nassif’s developments.
“Then the representations started coming in, both verbal and written, and so I would refer them to the Building Commissioner, or I would refer them to Fair Trading NSW,” he said.
In one instance, Mr Elliot said he visited the Skyview development.
“I went to have a look, and it was very, very clear to the naked eye that this was a building that was deficient,” he said.
The Hills Shire Council, which assessed a development by Mr Nassif at Cherrybrook, is at the centre of allegations aired in parliament and which sparked a parliamentary inquiry and, in turn, the current ICAC investigation.
Donation claims
Counsel assisting Penny Dwyer SC put allegations to Mr Elliot, which she said could arise but that she was not making, that he had asked Mr Nassif to donate to the mutual forum, a party fundraising arm. Mr Elliot denied the allegation.
“Thus far, we’ve not been able to find any credible evidence to substantiate any allegations of this nature, but are you aware of any allegations against you that Mr Nassif has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to you or anybody?” Ms Dwyer asked.
Mr Elliot replied: “I’m not aware … I wouldn’t be working if I was donated hundreds of thousands of dollars”.
“It’s been ten years since I spent more than more than $50,000 on the campaign, and the last one was about $10,000 or $15,000,” he said.
‘Never met him’
Asked about Christian Ellis, a NSW Liberal Party powerbroker and co-founder of the Reformers, Mr Elliot said he had “never met him”, but had been told Dominic Perrottet – whose brothers Charles and Jean-Claude are named in the probe – had “absolutely sledged him because he had to sack him”.
“He wanted to remind everybody that he sacked Christian Ellis, because one day he went to Christian’s office and found a whole lot of constituent correspondence stuffed in the top drawer. Christian had just, for whatever reason, just decided not to action” them, he said.
Mr Elliot denied every having heard of the Reformers prior to the ICAC probe.
“Not until I’ve been listening to you for the last month,” Mr Elliot told Ms Dwyer.
During the morning evidence, Mr Elliot was questioned over the intra-party factional dynamics of the NSW Liberal Party, of which he is still a member.
He told the inquiry the more religious wing of the party were called different things by different people, including the “hard right” and “the cult”.
Earlier, he described Dominic Perrottet – who is not named in the probe and not accused of any wrongdoing – as a leading figure in the right faction.
More to come
