AAA<\/p>\n
Federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has been embroiled in a corruption inquiry probing illegal donations<\/a> after claims emerged that he agreed to bankroll a conservative religious faction within the NSW Liberals.<\/p>\n The Independent Commission Against Corruption heard sensational evidence on Tuesday that in 2021 Taylor committed to a $15,000 \u201cinjection\u201d to the NSW Reformers<\/a> with regular $3000 donations.<\/p>\n Asked on Tuesday whether he made the donations, Taylor\u2019s spokesman said fundraising and donations were an issue for the party\u2019s head office.<\/p>\n The NSW Liberals said they had no record of the donations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe party has no record of such donations, or any other payments to the \u2018Reformers\u2019. All donations to the party are disclosed, as is expenditure, in line with our obligations under state and commonwealth legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article The revelations emerged after a key backer of the NSW Reformers, hotelier Michael O\u2019Hara, told the commission on Tuesday he had withdrawn his financial support for the Reformers group because then premier Dominic Perrottet \u201chad rolled on so many issues\u201d and had \u201cgone woke\u201d.<\/p>\n A one-time NSW Reformers member and former Catholic Schools NSW staffer, Dylan Whitelaw, also appeared before the commission on Tuesday<\/a>, where he was asked about Taylor\u2019s donations, as well as factional work being done \u201con the Catholic school dime\u201d.<\/p>\n Whitelaw was shown a text message that he sent to a group chat in 2021. In that NSW Reformers chat, he told members that Catholic Schools NSW boss and right-wing powerbroker Dallas McInerney<\/a> had received a commitment \u201cfrom Angus\u201d for a \u201c15k injection, plus a 3k monthly donation\u201d.<\/p>\n Whitelaw said he assumed \u201cAngus\u201d referred to Hume MP and now federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor.<\/p>\n In another message in the group chat, which included fellow NSW Reformers Robert Assaf, Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet, Whitelaw wrote \u201ccheering\u201d in relation to the Taylor donations.<\/p>\n Ellis also responded: \u201cAmazing\u201d.<\/p>\n Counsel assisting Juliet Curtin said to Whitelaw: \u201cTo be clear, the $15k injection plus the $3k monthly donation that you\u2019ve been told about by Mr McInerney, at least on this evidence, is for the work that the Reformers were doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Whitelaw responded: \u201cI will draw that conclusion from the fact it\u2019s in a Reformers group chat, but I don\u2019t have a recollection around it.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he did not recall sending the message about Taylor\u2019s donations and did not recall Taylor making the donation.<\/p>\n \u201cPotentially, Dallas had told me something that was incorrect, I\u2019d be very surprised if Mr Taylor made any financial contribution,\u201d Whitelaw said.<\/p>\n A spokesman for Taylor said: \u201cThe leader is not a party to the matters before the commission, nor has he been approached.<\/p>\n \u201cThese matters should be allowed to run their course free from political interference or commentary. As such the leader will not be providing a running commentary on any matters before the commission.<\/p>\n \u201cDonations and fundraising activities are declared in accordance with the rules and are a matter for the party.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitelaw was also asked about a screenshot sent by Assaf to a group chat including Perrottet and Ellis.<\/p>\n In the screenshot message, McInerney said: \u201cI have breakfast club with ministers this Thursday morning. Who can I get an update from? Re SCD progress in last six to 12 months. I want to shake down Angus for 10k.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitelaw told the commission that \u201cSCD\u201d referred to state council delegates. McInerney wanted an update on how many NSW Reformers were progressing to Liberal Party state council delegates.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears, does it not, that Mr McInerney wanted an update on the Reformers\u2019 progress, so he could seek a financial contribution from Angus Taylor to continue the Reformers\u2019 work?\u201d Curtin asked.<\/p>\n Related Article Whitelaw responded: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to speculate, but it appears that way on face value.\u201d<\/p>\n He also told the commission that he and Assaf both completed NSW Reformers activities during their working hours while employed at Catholic Schools NSW.<\/p>\n Catholic Schools NSW is the governing body for 600 diocesan schools across the state.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said that it was a running joke between you and Mr Assaf that he was spending a significant proportion of his time doing Reformers work on the Catholic school\u2019s dime,\u201d Curtin said.<\/p>\n Whitelaw agreed. He also told the commission his guess was Assaf\u2019s work was \u201c60 per cent to the Reformers, 40 per cent to Catholic Schools\u201d.<\/p>\n Assaf will appear as a witness later in the week. McInerney is also a person of interest to ICAC, which will probe whether he \u201carranged and approved\u201d undeclared political donations from Catholic Schools NSW to the Liberal Party.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey said there was not enough detail about the alleged donation by Taylor to determine if it was legal or illegal. She said there were significant differences between state and federal laws on donations.<\/p>\n \u201cAt best, one could say if donations were made for NSW State election purposes (not federal election purposes) by a single donor in the 2021-22 financial year, in excess of $6700, then there might have been a breach in the NSW electoral funding law.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier, O\u2019Hara said he believed he was donating to a group that would return conservative values to the Liberal Party<\/a>, but was \u201cdisgusted\u201d when he discovered the true operations of the NSW Reformers.<\/p>\n \u201cI am absolutely astounded by where it all ended up, which I had absolutely no knowledge of. I\u2019m disgusted,\u201d O\u2019Hara told the commission.<\/p>\n In one email sent to the then premier\u2019s brother Jean-Claude Perrottet, O\u2019Hara was critical of the Liberal leader\u2019s stance on climate change, flying the Aboriginal flag on the Harbour Bridge and supporting the Voice referendum.<\/p>\n O\u2019Hara was responding to an email in which Jean-Claude was invoicing the hotelier for payments that would be funnelled to the NSW Reformers.<\/p>\n In another email shown to the commission, O\u2019Hara said he \u201ccannot support Dominic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI believed he was a person of principle and backed him to the hilt, but he has gone woke,\u201d the email said. O\u2019Hara also said the then prime minister Scott Morrison had also \u201cgone woke … he became weak too\u201d.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"NSW](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f7fd229192428405575ef308e56076fce7aece0d.jpeg\")
NSW Reformers member Dylan Whitelaw gave evidence to the ICAC on Tuesday. Edwina Pickles<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785258854_494_bbf2b495555b3df8ab65be5655da83c13f21282f.jpeg\")
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Alexandra Smith<\/a> is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/55a79b3cec69404184ee9c4e435ad968b01aac20.png\")
Jessica McSweeney<\/a> is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald covering state politics and urban affairs.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-829477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}