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The commissioner presiding over the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny just resolved the question everyone has been pondering: could this saga land Dominic Perrottet in trouble?
The answer, Fabian Gleeson, SC, confirmed on Friday, is a very clear “no”.
For six weeks now, the ugly reality of the NSW Liberal Party’s factional warfare has been exposed for all to see. It’s not a pretty picture. Two key operatives being investigated by the ICAC are the former premier’s younger brothers, Charles and Jean-Claude Perrottet.
The claims against those two are incredibly serious. Jean-Claude was allegedly involved in a scheme to rort the state’s donations laws. Charles, a BP executive and “muscle” of the party’s hard-right faction for many years, stands accused of sharing in a $2 million bribe by fugitive Sydney property developer Jean Nassif.
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The ICAC heard this week how Charles sought to damage cabinet minister David Elliott – a nemesis of the conservative faction – and remove the then building commissioner David Chandler from office. The brothers deny they have done anything wrong.
Perrottet became premier in October 2021 following Gladys Berejiklian’s political demise. He now lives in the US and is a senior executive at BHP.
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He is largely estranged from Jean-Claude and Charles, has never been named as a person of interest by the commission, has not been called to give evidence, is not accused of wrongdoing, and even referred early rumours about misconduct within his party to the ICAC in 2022.
Despite all this, his reputation has been in question amid the spectre of Operation Rosny. Some have been watching the public hearings, waiting and hoping that damaging material might emerge about the former premier. It has not arrived – and is not going to.
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On Friday, Charles Perrottet was asked a series of direct questions about whether he ever lobbied his brother to make decisions that might benefit Nassif. He said no. He also denied influencing the then-fair trading minister Eleni Petinos to dump Chandler as building commissioner.
At this point, the commissioner jumped in. “I’ll just indicate for the transcript that neither Eleni Petinos nor Dominic Perrottet is a person of interest in this inquiry,” Gleeson said.
The former NSW Court of Appeal judge has been measured in his commentary and interventions during hearings. He intervenes only when necessary, and for impact. That makes his decision to state publicly for the first time that the ICAC has no interest in Perrottet more significant than just a passing reference.
The ICAC faced criticism last month for allowing an unfounded theory to be aired from the witness box that Perrottet’s decision to move David Elliott from the police portfolio was motivated to benefit Nassif. The theory – which the ICAC did not properly test or repudiate, and is easy to disprove – understandably annoyed Perrottet’s supporters.
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There is no doubt Perrottet would have known Jean-Claude and Charles were working to build the influence of the party’s right faction. But that is a long way short from ever being told about anything approaching misconduct, or making decisions in government to aid the agenda of his brothers.
The ICAC’s challenge over recent weeks has been sorting fact from fiction, particularly when it comes to Nassif and the various claims the Toplace developer made about his influence over the Coalition government.
On Friday, it heard telephone intercepts in which Nassif boasted to a friend that Dominic Perrottet was his “boy”. In another call, he says of Perrottet: “The premier is my best friend … They’re my friends and my boys.”
Nassif, a renowned bullshit artist and big-noter, was clearly on another planet. The former premier has told friends over recent weeks he never met or spoke with the developer.
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His foolish siblings Jean-Claude and Charles can’t say the same. After a torrid time in the witness box, they would probably give anything to promise, on their honour, they had never encountered the discredited developer now slinking around in Lebanon.
Sydney’s best coverage of the ICAC inquiry
- How ICAC nailed Anita Perrottet’s absurd excuses
- He’s never been called an idiot. But did this Liberal Party operative outsmart himself?
- What we learnt from Operation Rosny in week five
- Analysis: Dallas McInerney turned from helpful to hot under the collar, writes Kate McClymont
- How the NSW Reformers infiltrated the Liberal Party
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Bevan Shields is a senior writer, and former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement