ICAC: Ex-premier’s brother Jean-Claude Perrottet reveals he recruited ethnic groups to Liberal branches

A former NSW premier’s younger brother signed up new Asian and “wog” recruits with conservative Christian values to the Liberal Party in a bid to overthrow a sitting Federal MP, an anti-corruption hearing has heard.

Jean-Claude Perrottet, the brother of former Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet, has admitted he was involved with a Christian group called the Reformers that sought to recruit Right faction members to party branches in Sydney’s Hills District.

The branches were in the Federal seat of Mitchell, represented by Alex Hawke, a Centre Right faction Liberal MP who was then an assistant minister in Malcolm Turnbull’s government in 2018 who would later hold the immigration portfolio under Scott Morrison.

Jean-Claude Perrottet confirmed to the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny inquiry on Wednesday that ethnic minority Christian conservatives were recruited to branches within that part of Sydney’s north west.

Counsel assisting Juliet Curtin read out a Reformers document outlining a plan to recruit 10 people to a Liberal Party branch in the seat of Mitchell.

“You say, ‘Some are Asian, Korean and the rest wog’.”

“Yes,” Mr Perrottet replied.

“So, you’re describing the people who signed up? Yes?”

Christian Ellis, another key organiser with the Reformers, had suggested directing some of the recruits to the Baulkham Hills branch of the Liberal Party.

“You’ve set them out another way by description of their ethnicity and their age and then he’s telling you which branches they should go into or suggesting which branches they should go into,” Ms Curtin asked.

“Yeah, I think he’s probably just talking about the timing of putting memberships in,” Mr Perrottet replied.

Mr Perrottet in 2018 worked as an electorate officer for State Liberal MP Damien Tudehope, who was then the member for Epping in Sydney’s north and who also belonged to the Right faction.

His older brother Dominic Perrottet, at this point, was the State treasurer under Gladys Berejiklian.

Jean-Claude Perrottet admitted that he had been doing Liberal Party Right faction work for the Reformers during office hours, contravening electorate officer staffing rules.

“Yeah, within nine to five, yep,” Mr Perrottet said under questioning from Ms Curtin.

“That was not an uncommon occurrence, is that right, that you would engage in factional work whilst working in Mr Tudehope’s electorate office?”

“Yeah, I’d do personal stuff and I would do my work. I’ve texted someone about another topic while at work. I would do factional work, yeah.”

In late 2018 and 2019, Mr Perrottet would go on to work for Upper House Liberal MP David Clarke, a Catholic conservative who had fallen out with another former staffer, Mr Hawke, who split from the Right to form his own Centre Right faction before getting into Parliament two decades ago.

As a staffer for both Mr Clarke and again for Mr Tudehope in 2019, when he became a minister, Mr Perrottet had circulated Reformers group petitions on social issues, including Israel Folau’s sacking from the Wallabies for paraphrasing a Biblical verse condemning drunks, homosexuals and adulterers to attract conservative Liberal Party recruits.

With Liberal recruits needing to have been party members for two years to run for branch positions, Mr Perrottet ramped up a recruitment and membership renewal drive in 2020, ahead of 2022 pre-selections for the 2023 State election, with a nun among those unsuccessfully pressured to sign up again.

In June this year, Mr Perrottet lost his job as a communications adviser with Catholic Schools NSW, only a month after a promotion.

This was after he and Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney were named as persons of interest by ICAC.

They were both part of the Liberal Party’s Right faction, the inquiry heard, with Mr Perrottet confirming Mr McInerney was aware of the work the Reformers were doing in recruiting members to the Liberal Party through holding conservative events on social issues.

“He would have been aware, yep,” Mr Perrottet said.

In 2019, Mr McInerney had hired Beckington, a lobby group director by right-wing Liberal Party powerbroker Christian Ellis, who had directed its client’s funding towards the work of the Reformers, which Mr Ellis was also involved in.

Mr Perrottet suggested he had lost his role in June, just a month after a promotion, because of a restructure that saw his public affairs tasks given to the deputy chief executive.

But Ms Curtin suggested that was an implausible answer.

“I want to suggest to you, Mr Perrottet, that the reason you were made redundant only a month after you had been promoted to this new role, was because of your involvement in this inquiry, is that right?”

“That wasn’t what was communicated to me from the office and the emails that I received but I mean, obviously, I’ve thought about the timing of it.”

Mr Perrottet had joined the Liberal Party in 2015, becoming president of the Hills Young Liberals, but his party membership lapsed in 2023, the year his older brother lost the election as premier.

The inquiry is continuing.