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September 2, 2026 — 7:50pm
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A fresh-faced Dominic Perrottet had no qualms about playing favourites when it came to his 12 siblings. “I would like to particularly single out my brother Charles, who has worked alongside me in politics,” the newly elected MP for Castle Hill told parliament in 2011 in his inaugural speech. “We have been a team from the start and will be a team to the finish.”
It’s highly unlikely that the once-formidable Charlie-and-Dom team, as it has long been known, remains intact. Charles, just 13 months younger than Dominic and the one-time “muscle” of the conservative wing of the withering Liberal Party, is a star of a corruption inquiry. He is also a liar by his own admission.
Former premier Dominic, meanwhile, is in Washington DC with his large family, working for BHP after a dignified loss in the 2023 state election. Time was against Perrottet, as were some shockingly ill-disciplined members of his team, when he attempted to convince voters to give the Coalition another four years in power.
Charles is a central figure in the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s wide-ranging inquiry into whether fugitive developer Jean Nassif made illegal political donations to the Liberal Party. And Charles has clearly decided that his best defence is to say he made up rubbish to keep Nassif on side. Not the odd white lie, but repeated fabrications, Charles has told the commission.
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He may be confident that argument is sound, given Nassif has a long history of colourful, bordering on erratic, behaviour. This was the man, after all, who gave his then-wife Nissy a yellow Lamborghini for Valentine’s Day several years ago and boasted about it on Instagram: “Congratulations Mrs Nassif. You like?” So while it was a surprise for the many keen ICAC watchers, it was also on-brand when Nassif’s name popped up on the commission’s witness list for this Friday.
It disappeared almost as quickly. A medical certificate from a doctor in Beirut, where Nassif is hiding out to avoid serious fraud charges in Australia, says the disgraced developer is not well enough to appear via video link from Lebanon. He is happy to reschedule, apparently.
So that leaves Charles, whose evidence has been extended by an extra two days, to continue insisting that the political fixes he was promising Nassif – from getting rid of the then building commissioner David Chandler and his political nemesis, former police minister David Elliott, to sorting out bothersome councils – were fibs. And why?
He was worried that Nassif was being too tardy in paying bills owed to his political apparatchik mates, Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis, who ran the lobbying firm Beckington. “That’s what friends do,” explained Perrottet, a top executive at BP who is contractually obliged not to take on outside work.
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The commission’s formidable counsel assisting, Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, has not been buying it. She has reminded him, more than once, that “the great truism about telling a lie, Mr Perrottet, is you have to be really good at remembering it”.
There was, however, one refreshing moment in his evidence when Charles said what many of us suspect. “In politics, sometimes you say things to people that aren’t 100 per cent the truth,” he told Dwyer. That did not seem to surprise her.
There is an uncanny resemblance between Dominic and Charles, even for brothers. Same voice, same mannerisms, same slim build (although Charles has shed weight). Dominic is not a person of interest and has not been called to give evidence. But there is no doubt that having his family feature in a blockbuster corruption inquiry – the youngest Perrottet brother, Jean-Claude, is also a person of interest – would be making his stomach churn.
By all accounts, Dominic had a charmed run in politics. He was the chosen one in the Perrottet family to be elected to parliament and Charles was instrumental in making that happen. Dominic’s first ministry in Mike Baird’s cabinet was the low-risk portfolio of finance, which set him up to be treasurer. When Perrottet wanted to swap seats to Epping (he had already shifted once to Hawkesbury as part of a factional deal), his life-long family friend and fellow right-wing warrior Damien Tudehope stepped in to help. Tudehope shifted to the upper house and surrendered Epping to Perrottet, who worried the commute from Hawkesbury would be too long with a young family.
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And Perrottet survived a political near-death experience when Nigel Freitas, his devoted chief of staff, became the casualty in a scandal involving the scandal-ridden insurance body icare. Freitas resigned over revelations that the salaries of two of Perrottet’s ministerial staff were paid by icare. Ultimately, it did not hold Perrottet back.
Eventually, he replaced Gladys Berejiklian as premier in October 2021. And it was his teammate Charles who Dominic credited with his success. “He thanked me for everything. Not just this weekend. But the last 20 years to get here,” Charles told his wife, Anita, in a text message which has formed part of the ICAC inquiry.
Anita responded: “Well it’s definitely true that he couldn’t have done it without you!!”
Alexandra Smith is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
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Alexandra Smith is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement