ICAC: Former NSW Liberal minister Damien Tudehope reveals Julian Leeser worried about branch stacking

The Liberal Party’s only Jewish MP in Federal Parliament was worried right-wing Christian conservatives were stacking branches in his local area, an anti-corruption hearing has been told.

Former NSW Liberal minister Damien Tudehope, who is now a State Upper House MP, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny inquiry on Tuesday that Julian Leeser, the member for Berowra, was worried about a right-wing Christian group called the Reformers stacking branches in Sydney’s Hills District.

“Certainly, Julian Leeser was very exercised about it because he saw members going into branches which were Federal branches which impacted on the seat of Berowra,” he said.

“That would have given rise to his concerns that it may well have been that putting members into those branches may well have impacted on the State seat as well.”

Former premier Dominic Perrottet’s younger brother Jean-Claude Perrottet and Christian Ellis were both organising events for the Reformers and actively recruiting new Liberal Party members, primarily with the goal of unseating Federal MP Alex Hawke, a future immigration minister from the Centre Right faction who had previously been a key player in the Right as NSW Young Liberals president.

One Liberal Party Right faction event at Mr Tudehope’s home in 2018 featured conservative News Corp columnist Miranda Devine, the inquiry heard.

“It wasn’t a barbecue. I can tell you that there were probably 50 people there and I don’t put on barbecues for 50 people,” Mr Tudehope said.

“It was similar to other events that we had put on where we had a prominent social commentator speak in relation to conservative issues.”

Mr Tudehope noted Mr Leeser was particularly worried about new Right faction recruits to the Beecroft branch of the Liberal Party.

“The fact is that they did sign up people for the party following those events and I know that Julian Leeser and others expressed concern about new people coming in,” he said.

Mr Leeser’s paranoia began in 2015 when an electoral redistribution for the State electorate of Castle Hill saw future treasurer and premier Dominic Perrottet, from the Liberal Party’s Right faction, shifted to another electorate, Hawkesbury.

The State seat of Castle Hill overlapped with Mr Leeser’s Federal seat of Berowra, which he was elected to in 2016.

Ray Williams, the new member for Castle Hill hailed from the Centre Right faction and Jean-Claude Perrottet was actively recruiting new members to the Liberal Party in a bid to have the Right faction retake the seat of Castle Hill.

As a result, former police minister David Elliott, also from the Centre Right faction, lost his bid to become the next member for Castle Hill ahead of the 2023 election.

His old seat of Baulkham Hills had been abolished and Mr Williams shifted to the seat of Kellyville, as the Right used their numbers to give preselection to Mark Hodges.

Mr Tudehope, who stepped down from the Opposition frontbench in July pending the ICAC inquiry, said it was unfortunate that Mr Elliott’s political career had to end three years ago.

“David Elliott says, ‘I should be in Parliament.’ He should be. I would welcome David Elliott being in Parliament. David Elliott should be in Parliament,” he said.

“That factional-type play that was made to force Dominic Perrottet out of the seat of Castle Hill in Hawkesbury was just astonishing.”

Dominic Perrottet moved to the seat of Epping at the 2019 election, with Mr Tudehope moving from that seat to the Upper House as part of a factional deal.

Jean-Claude Perrottet had previously worked for Mr Tudehope as an electorate officer in Epping in 2018 and later as a policy adviser when he was the State finance and small business minister in 2019.

He attended Redfield College, an Opus Dei-aligned Catholic school with Mr Tudehope’s children and another organiser with the Reformers, Robert Assaf, who has also given evidence to the inquiry.

The inquiry also heard Mr Ellis was sacked in July 2019 as a senior policy adviser from Mr Tudehope’s ministerial office, by his then chief-of-staff, after just three months in the role for doing party work during work hours.

Jean-Claude Perrottet is due to be called as an ICAC witness on Wednesday.

Mr Leeser became the Liberal Party’s only Federal Jewish MP in 2022 after then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg and a North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman lost their seats to teal candidates.

He has since become a leading voice against anti-Semitism and had quit the Coalition frontbench in 2023 so he could campaign in favour of the doomed Voice referendum proposal, before rejoining the frontbench last year.