From time to time, dirt files \u2013 crudely known as shit sheets \u2013 flutter around the corridors of power in state and federal parliaments.<\/p>\n
They can be enormously damaging even if never published. While there might be speculation as to their origin, rarely is there confirmation \u2013 especially if the dirt file emanates from your own side.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption<\/a> hit paydirt, uncovering a document \u2013 and a text trail indicating its origin \u2013 that painted a very unflattering portrait of the former NSW police minister David Elliott.<\/p>\n Equally, it paints an unflattering picture of politics in the NSW Liberal party<\/a> and potentially serious perversion of the system.<\/p>\n Icac is investigating allegations that members of a secretive rightwing sub-faction of the NSW Liberals \u2013 the Reformers \u2013 took undeclared political donations, including from banned donors such as developers and hoteliers, and in amounts that exceeded donation caps.<\/p>\n We have already heard allegations that Catholic Schools NSW, a charity that distributes funding to the state\u2019s Catholic schools, made undeclared payments totalling $260,000 and that the hotelier Michael O\u2019Hara also contributed more than $150,000.<\/p>\n Hotelier Michael O\u2019Hara gave evidence at the Icac hearings on Tuesday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n The counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC has also hinted there will be further revelations about $2m paid by the fugitive developer Jean Nassif to the key players.<\/p>\n Nassif\u2019s largesse to the Reformers almost certainly had less to do with the conservative values on abortion and same-sex marriage that motivated other financial backers. It is alleged by Dwyer it had much more to do with getting rid of the then building commissioner, David Chandler, and critics of Nassif\u2019s buildings such as the former Baulkham Hills MP David Elliott.<\/p>\n In the witness box on Wednesday the most junior of the Reformers, Dylan Whitelaw, was asked about the work he did on a 2021 document titled \u201cDavid Elliot shit sheet.docx\u201d, while working at a public relations company owned by two other Reformers, Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood.<\/p>\n Whitelaw admitted he had compiled a document at the request of Greenwood and had included references to unflattering articles about Elliott, such as when he was photographed as police minister firing an illegal firearm at a corrections department firing range.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it comes back to the standard factional warfare that occurs inside political parties. \u2018Distaste\u2019 maybe is the incorrect word but the right wing of the Liberal party had hatred of the centre-right or the Alex Hawke faction, of which Mr Elliot was a leading figure,\u201d Whitelaw told Icac.<\/p>\n But Whitelaw said he did not recall writing a section that suggested Elliott had engaged in an extramarital affair<\/a>. It might have been added later, Whitelaw said. He had heard of the existence of photos but had not seen them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe allegation around Mr Elliot and the affair was something that Mr Greenwood and Mr Ellis kept very, very secretive,\u201d Whitelaw said.<\/p>\n