Consultant Anita Perrottet was paid a $10,000 monthly retainer to offer a “mum’s perspective”, according to evidence provided by Liberal lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) this week.
The claim was just the latest in a series of eye-opening comments from witnesses at ICAC as part of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations concerning people associated with the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division).
To be fair, such a consulting gig genuinely sounds like a great job, if you can get it. I personally wouldn’t mind offering a paid mother’s perspective on the climate crisis, global conflict, social media, and AI. And I’d like to see more women valued for the perspectives they bring from caring responsibilities.
But in this case, ICAC is hearing that no emails or phone records reflect the work done by Perrottet, who received $660,000 for “strategic advice” over two and a half years, paid into her company, Macquarie Consulting.
ICAC is currently exploring allegations that Greenwood’s company was used to hide political donations as payments for lobbying and government-relations work. It’s investigating whether people with NSW Liberal Party links solicited funds from prohibited donors, as well as other sources, to further the interests of NSW Reformers, a right-wing faction of the party.
Greenwood said Perrottet had been “very effective” in offering a “mum’s perspective” on a vaping campaign that his firm was working on, including strategies to promote legal vaping and limit flavours that could appeal to kids. As he said:
“The mum’s perspective is so important. It’s what everybody in politics looks for.”
If only more people linked to the Liberal Party shared that perspective! Perhaps the case for quotes from women could be made after all.
Greenwood said he’d had weekly Zoom meetings with Perrottet, while Perrottet had previously said their contact had been more informal. Perrottet had also previously told ICAC that the money she was paid was for her consultancy work and that she had not done any work related to fugitive Jean Nassif’s property development firm, Toplace.
Last week, Anita Perrottet’s husband, Charles Perrottet, told ICAC the $150,000 yearly payment to his wife, averaging 16 hours a week on a flexible arrangement, was not a “significant amount”. Charles Perrottet also gave evidence that some of the money paid to his wife’s consulting company covered advice that he personally provided to Greenwood about Toplace — evidence that contradicted Anita Perrottet’s earlier evidence that the payments were for her own consulting work, and that neither she nor Charles had done any work to benefit Toplace.
Yes, I’m confused too.
When questioned by the commission if Charles Perrottet had deliberately hidden the fact that some of the money being paid to his wife was actually to cover his work, Charles Perrottet responded: “I wouldn’t say deliberately hide it, but I wanted her … that she felt valued. She was doing a lot of good work for Jeremy.”
Greenwood has also been questioned by Peggy Dwyer SC about the dispute he had with fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, with Greenwood noting he had grown “frustrated” with Nassif while waiting on a large payment to purchase a Porsche.
ICAC heard that Greenwood exchanged texts with his business partner, Christian Ellis, about the large payments they were owed through their lobbying company, Beckington. The commission is further examining allegations that both Ellis and Greenwood, as well as Charles Perrottet (brother of former Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet who is not accused of any wrongdoing) had expected to receive $2 million from Nassif.
“I want it fucking paid, I’m sick of it. It’s actually embarrassing,” Greenwood texted Ellis. When Ellis responded that they should receive $400,000, Greenwood replied:
“Good, because the Porsche comes in January and I’m getting worried.”
You couldn’t make this up.
At the Commission on Wednesday, Greenwood was asked if the “fuckwit” in question was referring to the developer, Jean Nassif. Greenwood responded, “probably yes,” and noted that he had grown “very frustrated” about not being paid the lump sum he believed was due.
Nassif will give evidence from Lebanon next week, having fled there in December 2022, with Toplace going into voluntary administration in 2023, allegedly leaving thousands of apartment owners with significant repair bills due to building defects and owing more than a billion dollars.
At the heart of the ICAC inquiry is the group of young men called the Reformers, who believed they would transform the NSW Liberal Party and shift it to the right. They were united by their Christian faith, and included lobbyists and operatives. The Reformers’ co-founder, Robert Assaf, previously described the group as having “wild dreams”.
“We were 20-something-year-old guys dreaming big.”
Assaf founded the Reformers network in 2018 with his co-founder, Christian Ellis. Two brothers of Dominic Perrottet, Charles and Jean-Claude, were also involved, as well as former Liberal staffer Dylan Whitelaw.
The Perrottet brothers, as well as Assaf and Greenwood (who claims he was not connected to the Reformers), all attended the same conservative, Catholic boys’ school in Sydney’s Hills district.
The Reformers’ mission statement is to take “back our nation through good government”, and by 2020, the Commission heard they had recruited 1200 people to the NSW Liberal Party, as well as achieving millions of dollars in “consulting” work through contracts to firms including Beckinton (owned by Ellis and Greenwood) and JPG Advisory.
They were offering “A call to action to all Christians whose way of life has increasingly become under threat,” with members sharing conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage.
Assaf has pushed to downplay the power of the Reformer in the party, previously telling ICAC that the group may sound “spooky” in the media at the moment but they were really “just a bunch of 20-year-old people trying to figure things out.”
Perhaps they should have sought some advice from their own mothers.