Using covert recording of Liberal MP rubbishing Dominic Perrottet was just ‘politics’, ICAC hears

A covert recording of former police minister David Elliott allegedly saying unfavourable things about Dominic Perrottet was given to conservative powerbroker Charles Perrottet as the party’s Right faction was shoring up support for Perrottet’s premiership, the ICAC was told on Monday.

Former liberal staffer Chris Spence told the commission that Charles Perrottet gave him the audio that captured Elliott espousing negative views about Dominic Perrottet in the lead-up to Perrottet taking over the leadership of the party in late 2021.

“The conversation was about Dom, and Elliott’s views on Dom, and Charlie wanted to try and see if I had any ability to be able to take some of the background noise away so that you could hear it better, so that they could send it to Dom, so that he would know then what Elliot had said about him in the conversation,” Spence said.

Spence said there was nothing wrong with Charles wanting to support his brother.

“It’s politics … I think Charlie’s quite within his rights to help his brother out there, so that he knew exactly what Elliott was saying, but I don’t see that as being anything untoward,” Spence said.

The commission is investigating whether Liberal Party operatives, including Charles Perrottet, were working at the behest of fugitive developer Jean Nassif, who wanted to damage Elliott’s political career after the MP was critical of his development projects.

Charles Perrottet is BP’s head of strategy and commercial development for Australia & New Zealand, based in Melbourne. A spokesperson for BP said the company “respects the independence and integrity of the inquiry currently under way in NSW”.

“Charles Perrottet is taking a leave of absence to focus on the inquiry,” the spokesperson said.

Spence also told the commission that Charles Perrottet called him in 2021 to tell him of an extortion attempt against Nassif made by the then building commissioner David Chandler.

He said that Perrottet told him an offer had been made that Nassif or his company Toplace pay a large sum of money in exchange for Chandler issuing an occupation certificate for one of Nassif’s developments.

The ICAC’s investigations also centre on whether Nassif ordered that a smear campaign be waged against Chandler. Chandler is not accused of any wrongdoing.

“He [Charles Perrottet] raised that Jean Nassif had been approached, and that there was a certain sum of money that would be required to get an approval,” Spence said.

Charles Perrottet also passed on messages that he claimed showed a bank account that the funds were to be paid into, and an audio file, Spence said.

Spence, who was the Liberal MP for The Entrance for four years, also described party apparatchik and key member of the Reformers Dylan Whitelaw as “one of the most untrustworthy, lying individuals” he has ever met.

Spence on Monday told the commission that Whitelaw, who was employed in former planning minister Anthony Roberts’ office in early 2022 when Spence was chief of staff, had unauthorised meetings with developers when he was a junior staffer.

Spence said that Whitelaw regularly “gaslit” the office and would “disappear” without explanation.

He told the commission that it later emerged Whitelaw was meeting with developers alone, which was banned by the office. Spence also said that he suspected Whitelaw stole documents from the office, though he had no proof.

Whitelaw, who was the second witness to appear before the ICAC inquiry codenamed Operation Rosny, was employed in Roberts’ office after a stint at Catholic Schools NSW straight from school. He also was hired by lobby firm Beckington, set up by two Liberal operatives, Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood.

Ellis and Greenwood are persons of interest in this inquiry.

Spence said that Charles would vent to him about the Coalition government and its “silly” decisions, and there was a view that Charles would return to NSW to pursue a political career.

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