{"id":846019,"date":"2026-08-06T21:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846019\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T21:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:18:09","slug":"minns-said-he-wouldnt-gloat-about-icac-hearings-into-the-liberals-instead-hes-quietly-taken-out-the-trash-independent-commission-against-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846019\/","title":{"rendered":"Minns said he wouldn\u2019t \u2018gloat\u2019 about Icac hearings into the Liberals. Instead, he\u2019s quietly taken out the trash | Independent Commission Against Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the first week of the Independent Commission Against Corruption\u2019s (Icac) Operation Rosny\u2019s hearings into allegations<\/a> against people associated with the New South Wales Liberal party, Chris Minns took the high ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be no gloating or taking political advantage,\u201d the NSW Labor premier told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s an important process, and ultimately, hopefully, it makes all political parties cleaner and sends a message to anyone who\u2019s thinking of breaching the laws or committing a corrupt act, that someone is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a less generous way to describe what the Labor government has quietly gone about doing during Icac\u2019s second of at least eight weeks of hearings: \u201ctaking out the trash.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, the NSW government dropped key documents on not one but three contentious issues, burying them \u2013 intentionally or not \u2013 amid revelations that could damage the election hopes of state Liberal and opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, who was not an MP at the time of the alleged wrongdoing being investigated by the corruption watchdog.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The first document, a long-awaited report into hate speech laws by former supreme court justice John Sackar, was tabled by the attorney general, Michael Daley, during an Icac appearance by Liberal leader in the upper house, Damien Tudehope.<\/p>\n

Tudehope, as shadow attorney general, had been leading a fight for the release of the Sackar review, which had been gathering dust since November \u2013 and which the government had argued was \u201ccabinet in confidence\u201d. Labor minister John Graham was suspended over the government\u2019s refusal to release it in May.<\/p>\n

Giving evidence on Tuesday morning Tudehope defended talks he gave at conservative Liberal events, including one against the Safe Schools program, which had a stated aim of keeping gay and transgender students safe.<\/p>\n

NSW Liberal member of the Legislative Council Damien Tudehope (right) arrives to give evidence during the Icac Operation Rosny hearings on 4 August. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi\/AAP<\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon, Daley announced the government would not implement the Sackar review\u2019s key recommendation, to expand a controversial offence for inciting hatred on the grounds of race to other protected attributes, including religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, because it \u201craises complex questions\u201d.<\/p>\n

But rather than the focus being on the government\u2019s report, Tudehope, who is not named in Icac\u2019s allegations and has stepped aside from his shadow cabinet roles during the inquiry, found himself making headlines. After the admission that he had leaked a confidential parliamentary report to conservative Liberal factional group the Reformers, his future as shadow attorney general is now uncertain.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, with the Liberals still reeling from Tudehope\u2019s testimony, and Icac hearing evidence from the younger brother of former Liberal premier, Dominic Perrottet, Jean-Claude Perrottet, the government released two more documents.<\/p>\n

At a press conference on Wednesday on the government\u2019s response to the inquest into the Bondi Junction attack, amid questions about why it had only committed \u201cin principle\u201d to a recommendation to provide short- and long-term accommodation for people experiencing mental health issues and homelessness, Daley rejected the suggestion the government had buried the Sackar report the previous day.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few weeks ago we were getting criticised for not releasing the report. Now we\u2019re getting criticised for releasing the report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat day would have been better? Sunday be better?\u201d<\/p>\n

That same afternoon, Daley tabled legal advice sought in response to a committee report which had found the state\u2019s top prosecutor, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sally Dowling, lied under oath to an inquiry. Daley said the advice showed the committee\u2019s findings were unfounded.<\/p>\n

The allegations relate to a decision by the DPP to proactively pitch a story about an Indigenous child who performed an acknowledgment of country during a sentencing hearing. Dowling admitted her office had pitched the story to radio station 2GB but denied she had authorised it. The DPP has rejected the committee\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

The committee had written about the difficulty it experienced after a court of appeal decision in favour of the premier\u2019s chief of staff, which removed the upper house\u2019s power to compel witnesses to appear before inquiries \u2013 another issue Tudehope had been prosecuting. But on Wednesday, Daley said he considered the committee\u2019s findings \u201cclosed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Australian high court will hear an appeal by the upper house against the court of appeal decision later this year.<\/p>\n

Despite his claims of not taking \u201cpolitical advantage\u201d, the premier has not resisted delighting in the Liberals\u2019 troubles.<\/p>\n

As Tudehope gave evidence to Icac on Tuesday, Minns used a speech in question time to reference the shadow attorney general, \u201cwho is in the news at the moment\u201d. He also referenced Chris Rath, another Liberal frontbencher in the upper house caught up in the Icac inquiry.<\/p>\n

Last week, after the Sydney Morning Herald revealed Rath had helped members of the Reformers evade summons to appear before a 2023 parliamentary inquiry, the premier used it as a pretext to reject calls for the restoration of witness powers. Rath, who is not named in Icac\u2019s allegations, has apologised after receiving a caution from the parliamentary privileges committee over the incident.<\/p>\n

Minns told a press conference: \u201cI think this is exhibit 400 as to why the upper house shouldn\u2019t be given extraordinary police powers. They\u2019re desperate to get the power of arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, criticising an upper house amendment which would increase the number of political staffers in cross bench and opposition offices, Minns took open aim at Tudehope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is happening at the same time as the Icac is reporting incredibly concerning details of political staff [allegedly] not being used for taxpayer purposes, but for internal Liberal party<\/a> purposes. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the people who would get extra staff as a result of this amendment is Damien Tudehope. I think it\u2019s extraordinary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Minns defended the timing of the release of the Sackar report, nine months after it was tabled.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Icac] goes for eight weeks. If \u2026 we went by that logic, we couldn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t released at midnight and on Sunday. It was during work hours, at the beginning of the work week. It had been asked for by the cross bench repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even with the Labor taking out the trash while the Liberals stare down scandal, neither could end up winners \u2013 as Minns himself acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Last week, as One Nation rose in the polls, Minns said the Icac inquiry was not \u201cnecessarily the big boon for our political party that many believe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is that people say, \u2018Well I\u2019ve seen Labor at Icac, and I\u2019ve seen the Liberal party at Icac. I\u2019m going to vote for a third party this time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the first week of the Independent Commission Against Corruption\u2019s (Icac) Operation Rosny\u2019s hearings into allegations against people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-846019","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\/846019","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=846019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}