ICAC Operation Rosny LIVE updates: Jeremy Greenwood’s evidence continues after admission of plan to discredit former NSW police minister David Elliott

The state’s peak body for Catholic schools is under pressure from its own teachers to show greater transparency over funding after allegations that $165,000 was funnelled to right-wing Liberal Party operatives.

Former Catholic sector leaders also fear the allegations will threaten future funding negotiations, and warn the actions of a few within the sector are undermining the work of its schools and teachers.

The ICAC investigation has aired allegations Catholic Schools NSW, which distributes federal funding to almost 600 of its schools, employed operatives in the organisation who used work time to stack local branches with more conservative members.

Independent Education Union (IEU) NSW and ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said the NSW government closely scrutinises expenditure at the individual school level to ensure the $3.8 billion it receives in state and Commonwealth funding is used solely for the operation of each school.

Lesser known than some of the other players being examined by the ICAC, Jeremy Greenwood lists the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Greyhound Racing NSW and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles among his clients; he once worked for former federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock and the now Nationals leader Matt Canavan. He also went to Redfield College, the Opus Dei-linked school attended by other ICAC targets Charles and Jean-Claude Perrottet.

As the pieces of a major corruption puzzle have been put together over recent weeks, Greenwood has remained something of a mystery man. But the lobbyist is unique in that he appears to be a common thread between the three key schemes being probed under the Operation Rosny umbrella.

The first: the ICAC alleges that Greenwood was intimately involved in a plot to divert Catholic Schools NSW funds to a conservative Liberal Party sub-faction called the Reformers. The payments were made to two firms he was a director of, Beckington and JPG Advisory, via what the ICAC says were sham contracts. The money was then passed to Greenwood’s Reformers friends to compensate for their work trying to stack branches across the state.

A north-western Sydney council where illegal donation allegations triggered this corruption probe has dumped a proposal to increase transparency regarding secret and closed-door meetings, saying it was neither practical nor necessary to document every interaction with lobbyists or property developers.

The motion from Labor and Greens councillors in the Liberal-majority Hills Shire Council called for clear rules for councillors and executive leadership interacting with lobbyists and external influential figures. It also proposed an open diary policy, and the creation of an online lobbying register to ensure all meetings were disclosed.

While lobbying is not prohibited, and meeting with stakeholders is part of standard council operations, undocumented or secret meetings carried “significant reputational and corruption risks,” the motion noted. Lobbying activities are also put under the microscope when they relate to development applications, planning proposals, or rezoning matters, it said.

Operation Rosny was established after Liberal MP Ray Williams’ now-infamous 2022 speech in which he alleged fugitive developer Jean Nassif had paid “significant funds” to a group of Liberal figures to install new councillors on the Hills Shire Council who would support his development applications for major apartment projects. Most of the councillors allegedly involved are no longer at the council.