Despite being a senior minister for eight years in the Baird, Berejiklian and Perrottet Liberal governments, Elliott\u2019s political career was over.<\/p>\n
Sure, he\u2019d been a somewhat colourful character \u2013 he\u2019d attracted his fair share of publicity, good and bad.<\/p>\n
But, as one former colleague put it: \u201cIt was hard not to like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his departure at the 2023 election, Elliott has discovered the full scale of bastardry that was directed against him to end his career.<\/p>\n
The Independent Commission Against Corruption<\/a> is investigating allegations of illegal secret donations from property developers and others that were used to fund branch-stacking operations in breach of the NSW Electoral Funding Act.<\/p>\n Elliott\u2019s appearance at Icac on Friday<\/a> was a chance to air many matters that had clearly rankled.<\/p>\n He is not a person of interest in the investigation, and appeared only as a witness.<\/p>\n The fight with a fugitive developer<\/p>\n Elliott finally got to speak about what he had suspected for years: his belief that developer Jean Nassif, who is now a fugitive in Lebanon, was responsible for planting news stories that damaged his career, having him followed by private investigators, for death threats and for starting rumours that he was having an affair while his wife was undergoing cancer treatment.<\/p>\n Elliott told Icac the disagreements with Nassif stemmed from Elliot\u2019s view that development needed to be slowed in the Hills because the area lacked the infrastructure to support huge housing developments.<\/p>\n Nassif\u2019s company, Toplace, was behind two large developments at Castle Hill \u2013 Skyline and Atmosphere \u2013 and was seeking approval for another at Cherrybrook, where he had bought land at very high prices.<\/p>\n Several Toplace buildings have been slapped with rectification orders by the NSW building commissioner, David Chandler (more on him later).<\/p>\n Elliott told Icac that at first, Nassif had tried to woo him and meet him. There were attempts to make donations which were not permitted from developers under NSW laws, as Elliott pointed out.<\/p>\n \u201cOn two occasions he followed me in public places,\u201d Elliott told the inquiry.<\/p>\n One occurred in a bar in Parramatta when he was meeting then-local councillor Martin Zaiter.<\/p>\n Elliott claimed it started off pleasantly, with Nassif introducing his daughter, but soon \u201che did the finger in the chest\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him: \u2018Listen mate, I don\u2019t meet with property developers.\u2019 It felt like an eternity but I reckon it was three to four minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n His chief of staff, Tanya Raffoul, received threats through the Maronite church she attended, he told Icac.<\/p>\n At one stage she went to a meeting organised by property development figure, Amanda Ghalloub, and found Nassif there. According to Elliott, Nassif told her: \u201cwe have pictures of your boss, we need you to spill the beans on your boss or it would not end well.\u201d<\/p>\n Elliot also believed that private investigators followed he and his wife.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time I realised it was happening was that I\u2019d seen a vehicle at the top western end of my street on the park side of the road,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t speak to the private investigators, he said. \u201cI took a photo of him taking a photo of me because, as I\u2019ve said to the media, he was certainly the Maxwell Smart of the PI world,\u201d he said, referring to the 1960s television show about a bumbling cold war secret agent.<\/p>\n This was not paranoia. Icac counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, read from a dossier of observations of the then police minister.<\/p>\n After Elliott started to raise concerns about defective buildings, he told the inquiry Nassif went \u201cnuts\u201d.<\/p>\n Negative stories were leaked to the media about Elliott, including that he had fired an illegal gun<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the Icac inquiry, he became aware of a \u201cshit sheet\u201d<\/a> produced by a shadowy group of young Liberal operatives known as the Reformers that alleged he had an affair \u2013 which he says is baseless.<\/p>\n A former Liberal staffer and associate of the Reformers, Dylan Whitelaw, gave evidence to the inquiry in July and accepted under cross-examination<\/a> from Elliott\u2019s lawyer that no affair had taken place.<\/p>\n Nassif is a person of interest in the Icac inquiry and has an arrest warrant out relating to alleged fraud involving multimillion dollar loans to Toplace. He has not returned to Australia.<\/p>\n \u2018Cults\u2019 and \u2018setups\u2019<\/p>\n Asked about the right faction of the Liberal party<\/a> \u2013 the faction behind his political demise \u2013 Elliott did not mince words.<\/p>\n \u201cSome call it the hard right, some call it the right, some call it the religious right, some call it the cult,\u201d said Elliot, a member of the centre right, the rival faction.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first David Clarke was godfather. It was made clear to me that later, Anthony Roberts [the former planning minister], the Tudehopes and the Perrottets were in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n And when it came to the former premier, Dominic Perrottet and his brother Charles, Elliott was scathing.<\/p>\n Dominic had \u201clooked him in the eye\u201d at a farewell parade for police commissioner Mick Fuller and promised he could keep the police portfolio, only to move him to transport.<\/p>\n Elliott thought it might have had something to do with Nassif\u2019s arrest for cocaine possession at the Star Casino.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the bottom of the elevator, there were police dogs, and [Nassif] obviously realised that he had cocaine on him, and the police were about to arrest him,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, conveniently, [with me] the police minister and his adversary, he was able to say: \u2018This is all a setup from David out there.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I can assure you, Dr Dwyer, If I\u2019d asked the New South Wales<\/a> police court to issue a parking ticket, they would have punched me in the neck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Elliott said had no doubt that Charles Perrottet was consulted on the reshuffle. \u201cCharles and Dom were joined at the hip,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Charles Perrottet has been named as a person of interest in Icac in relation to allegations concerning illegal donations from Jean Nassif. He is scheduled to give evidence next week. Dominic Perrottet is not under investigation and is not a person of interest.<\/p>\n Much of Elliott\u2019s appearance was spent on the demise of the centre-right councillors prior to the 2022 local government elections and their replacement by the Liberal party\u2019s state executive using special powers.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so disgusted with Charles because he lied to me about the council, I pretty much wiped him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Used\u2019 by friends<\/p>\n Elliott was not the only one who may have relished the opportunity to ladle out a cold serving this week.<\/p>\n Eleni Petinos, the former fair trading minister in the Perrottet government, gave evidence on Thursday<\/a> about how she believed she was used by other people in the Liberal party \u2013 first to try to get rid of the building commissioner, David Chandler, and later as a scapegoat.<\/p>\n Eleni Petinos at a press conference in 2023. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n Chandler \u2013 who is not under investigation by Icac and is due to give evidence next week \u2013 came within her portfolio.<\/p>\n In late July 2022, Petinos was sacked by Perrottet<\/a>. The reason given at the time was claims of her bullying of staff. Petinos \u2013 who is not under investigation by Icac \u2013 denied the allegations<\/a> at the time but said she was sorry if she unintentionally offended anyone or made them uncomfortable.<\/p>\n Petinos\u2019s chief of staff, Cassandra Lawry, who also gave evidence, said Petinos\u2019 communication sometimes \u201ccould be better\u201d but denied the allegation of bullying.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Petinos told Icac she now believes there was something else at play.<\/p>\n The premier had become aware Chandler had penned an incendiary resignation letter that was going to cause embarrassment and attract Icac\u2019s attention. Did he try to deflect attention by sacking the minister?<\/p>\n \u201cI thought there was something very strange at play for Dominic to take the action that he did so swiftly, so coldly, and without the opportunity to even put me in front of a camera. That seemed bizarre,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was doing my absolute best for him. I felt like, when men are direct, or when men give clear instructions, they\u2019re applauded. They\u2019re considered to be good leaders. They\u2019re bold, they\u2019re visionaries. But when women in leadership positions demonstrate the same traits, we\u2019re aggressive, we\u2019re bullies, we\u2019re too bossy,\u201d she said at Icac.<\/p>\n She was particularly hurt that she was gone in two days while another minister, Stuart Ayres, was afforded weeks of support over another controversial issue \u2013 the appointment of John Barilaro as a trade representative to New York \u2013 before he was required to stand down.<\/p>\n The effect on Petinos was profound. Her friends have said she was shattered by the bullying allegations and battled to find her confidence again.<\/p>\n In the witness box on Thursday, Petinos was able to name the people she now believes used her in a campaign to get rid of the building commissioner.<\/p>\n They included the right power broker, Charles Perrottet, whom she had known from her time in the Young Liberals, and Chris Spence, another political ally who in 2022 was serving as chief of staff to Roberts. Petinos had helped on his campaigns before entering politics.<\/p>\n Spence is not a person of interest and is due to give evidence next week.<\/p>\n Clearly exacting revenge feels good. After airing his grievances on Friday, Elliott left the Icac offices, smiling broadly. \u201cIt feels weird to be the first Liberal who was happy to appear before Icac.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. It\u2019s been almost four years since the former New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-863767","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\/863767","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=863767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2998.jpg\")
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