The godly mission to control the NSW Liberals which grabbed ICAC’s attention
The far-right Liberals, who are at the center of a looming corruption investigation, have staged a series of high-profile events to attract conservatives to the party, arguing that Christian values are disappearing from society.
But according to their factional rivals, they were more interested in thwarting the centre-right than defending Christianity. “[The split in the right faction] This was a Henry VIII-level schism in the church and they never forgot it,” one Liberal figure said of the split between the two groups.
These events, held between at least 2018 and 2021, boasted guests including the now sidelined shadow attorney general Damien Tudehope and Catholic schools boss and right-wing faction powerbroker Dallas McInerney. They formed the basis of the group’s plans to control the NSW division of the Liberal Party by stacking branches with Conservatives.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption last week announced an explosive investigation into allegations of illegal donations to the NSW Liberals, focusing on fugitive property developer Jean Nassif’s links to party powerbrokers and councils.
The wide-ranging investigation, scheduled to begin this month, will examine whether Liberal Party figures including Christian Ellis, Jeremy Greenwood, Robert Assaf and Jean-Claude Perrottet (Dominic Perrottet’s younger brother) “solicited or accepted political donations from prohibited donors in amounts that were undeclared and exceeded applicable donation limits for purposes that included the recruitment and/or renewal of members of the Liberal Party.”
All four men were activists from the Liberal Party’s far-right faction, which was previously affiliated with a group called NSW Reformers.
The group was formed in 2018 with the aim of bringing together local Liberal branches to force Conservatives to become members of the party. A series of invitations he saw reporter It shows reformers actively courting members during the COVID-19 pandemic through a series of events focused on conservative issues such as euthanasia, “radical gender ideology,” and vaccine mandates.
First-ever NSW Reformers document reporter He stated in 2019 that the group aimed to control the provincial division of the Liberal Party by registering members to win preselection votes.
“If we do nothing today, it is likely that in 10 years, or even less, Christian values will no longer be the basis of our society,” the document said.
But multiple party sources said that despite its Christian ethos, the long-running dispute between the far right and the centre-right group of federal MPs and Liberal power broker Alex Hawke was the animating force behind the group’s activities.
The reformers’ activities were the focus of a NSW parliamentary inquiry into allegations of interference in pre-selection voting in the Hills Shire Council in Sydney’s northwest in 2022.
However, they appear to be active in other areas as well.
For example, documents appearing in Macquarie federal electorates reporter It showed that the NSW Reformers had access to a database of names taken from various petitions related to Conservative causes, including the marriage equality debate.
The database, which contained approximately 160 names, included voters’ phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses, as well as the petition or database from which their data was obtained. It’s unclear how reformers gained access to the data.
A second document titled Blue Mountains SEC Plan obtained by reporter It identifies 160 names as people from the Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury District who were “unregistered” whom the Reformers “plan to call to attend the meeting.”
It details plans to hold two events a month and a goal of registering five members for each event. The group also set itself a goal of “1 coffee subscription per week”.
The document names two people responsible for booking venues, searching for people from a database and arranging coffee meetings.
The 2022 inquiry also heard allegations of more widespread activities by Ellis and Perrottet, including allegations that they approached Sydney businessman Frits Mare for $50,000 to fund a branch operation to alienate Hawke from federal voters.
A party member in Farrer, previously held by Liberal leader Sussan Ley, also claimed Ellis had told her he wanted to run for the seat and claimed there had been an “unusual influx” of Liberal Party memberships during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The events were a key part of the operation and boasted a number of high-profile Liberal figures.
An advertised event at the Castle Hill RSL in 2018 also included the attendance of “conservative warrior” Tudehope when he was NSW finance minister.
McInerney, head of NSW Catholic Schools and a close ally of federal Liberal leader Angus Taylor, also attended a “Conservative Q&A” session focused on education held in February 2020.
While that byline does not imply any wrongdoing, McInerney resigned from the powerful curriculum and assessment panel last week after the ICAC announced its investigation, which included whether it authorized illegal political donations to recruit party members.
Tudehope resigned as shadow attorney general last week because he was called as a witness in the investigation.
Tudehope said there was “no allegation of wrongdoing on my part and I am not under investigation” but that the investigation involved “several people with whom I have had close relationships throughout my political career.”
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