Source : the age
Former NSW cabinet minister Eleni Petinos told the corruption inquiry yesterday that she was “disgusted” by the thought of being used in a plot orchestrated by a disgraced developer to drive outspoken building commissioner David Chandler from office.
Chandler and David Elliott, who will give evidence today, were two of Jean Nassif’s major enemies around 2022, when he saw the men as standing in the way of his developments.
Petinos described repeated attempts by several Liberal Party operatives to undermine Chandler, including senior political staffer Chris Spence.
A defiant Petinos told the corruption watchdog that she now realises Spence, a close friend and the chief of staff to then-planning minister Anthony Roberts, had used her to try to have Chandler removed.
“Frankly, even the little I knew coming into here today is enough to leave me disgusted and to feel like personal relationships were leant on in a highly improper way, and that’s not someone that you would call a friend,” she said.
We’re now close to the end of the fourth week of public hearings, which have included evidence from two sitting MPs, the chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW and many less well-known Liberal Party factional operators.
The corruption probe is investigating three key sets of allegations, which include claims that Liberal figures solicited illegal donations through bogus contracts with the schools body and hotelier Michael O’Hara, and perhaps the more sinister claim that Jean Nassif (who is now on the run in Lebanon) was funding branch-stacking activities to further his own interests.
Some of the people crucial to this inquiry are far from household names, so before we start today’s evidence, let’s have a quick refresh of who the major players are.
Hello and welcome to another day of public hearings in the ICAC’s Operation Rosny probe into Liberal Party apparatchiks, Jean Nassif and Catholic Schools NSW.
I’m state political reporter Jessica McSweeney and along with the Herald’s team of senior writers, we’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens in the hearing room.
Today we’ll hear evidence from former MP and minister in Dominic Perrottet’s Coalition government David Elliott. Elliott is not accused of any wrongdoing – rather the ICAC is investigating allegations that other Liberal figures received illegal donations from Nassif, and in turn worked to further the property developer’s goals, which included damaging Elliott’s political career.
Before evidence begins at 10am, let’s take a look at what we covered yesterday:
- Eleni Petinos suspects something “strange” was behind a “cold” phone call from then premier Dominic Perrottet in 2022 when he sacked her as fair trading minister. The reason given was bullying allegations being reported in the media, but it also came shortly after David Chandler resigned as building commissioner.
- Petinos believed Perrottet may have come to find out that Chandler named Petinos in his resignation letter, and that that may have played a part in his decision to sack her after previously indicating he would support her.
- Petinos told the ICAC she now believes former chief of staff to Anthony Roberts, Chris Spence, lent on his friendship with her to try to have David Chandler removed from his position.
- Spence raised with her and her chief of staff Cassandra Lawry a video that purported to be damaging to Chandler. Charles Perrottet at one point mentioned Chandler was “dodgy”, Petinos said.
- Lawry earlier told the commission that she suspected she and Petinos were being used, and that she felt set up after Spence approached her with the video of Chandler.
- Petinos described a “robust” relationship with Chandler, and said that while she had frustrations about some of his conduct, including a time he raised his voice during a meeting, she did not put any serious weight to suggestions he was “dodgy”.
