A high-stakes corruption inquiry into New South Wales’ Liberal Party has heard scathing remarks from a former senior cabinet minister against a fugitive property developer accused of orchestrating a secret factional campaign to destroy his political career.
Former New South Wales police and transport minister David Elliott took the witness stand at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), where investigators are probing explosive claims that a clandestine conservative Liberal faction dubbed the “Reformers” accepted illegal political donations from Jean Nassif — a developer currently fleeing Australian authorities in Lebanon — and other figures to stack party branches with Christian members to expand the faction’s power.
The inquiry has already aired intercepted phone recordings in which Nassif openly bragged about sabotaging the political careers of both Elliott and former Building Commissioner David Chandler. Elliott, who has not been accused of any misconduct throughout the probe, told the commission he had long worked to keep property developers at arm’s length, particularly those with major projects in The Hills district, where Nassif holds most of his development interests. He explained this deliberate distance was rooted in concerns over both “actual risk of corruption, but also the perception” of improper ties between developers and elected officials.
Elliott recounted the first approach from Nassif’s associates back in 2019, when a woman working for the developer offered to arrange hidden support for his political fundraising. “I asked her how and she said, ‘oh, we’ve got ways of doing it’. That was probably the only covert way it was ever raised with me,” he told the inquiry. Elliott added that he never had a productive or even civil exchange with Nassif, saying: “Nothing positive ever comes from my conversations about Jean Nassif.”
Tensions between the pair boiled over after Nassif’s proposed Cherrybrook development was rejected by local authorities, Elliott said. The developer went “nuts” over the decision, and twice confronted Elliott uninvited: first in a residential car park in 2021, when Elliott was still serving as police minister, and again a year later at a local bar. On the first occasion, Elliott recalled, he brushed off Nassif’s demand for a meeting by telling him directly: “I’m sorry, I don’t speak to developers.”
Elliott, who left parliament ahead of the 2023 state election after his former seat was abolished in a electoral redistribution, told the commission he had consistently pushed back against overdevelopment in The Hills. He also detailed how local constituents had repeatedly raised complaints about shoddy workmanship on Nassif’s projects, including the Skyview development, which he said had obvious visible construction deficiencies. All complaints, he added, were properly referred to the Building Commissioner or NSW Fair Trading for official review.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Penny Dwyer SC put to Elliott an unproven allegation that he had requested a donation from Nassif to the Mutual Forum, the Liberal Party’s official fundraising body. Elliott flatly denied the claim, adding that he had no knowledge of Nassif donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to him or any associate. “It’s been ten years since I spent more than $50,000 on the campaign, and the last one was about $10,000 or $15,000,” he said, rejecting any suggestion of improper financial ties.
When questioned about Christian Ellis, a prominent Liberal powerbroker and co-founder of the Reformers faction at the center of the probe, Elliott said he had never met the figure. He also told the commission he had never even heard of the Reformers faction until the ICAC investigation launched. He added that the more religious, hardline conservative wing of the NSW Liberal Party was often referred to by unflattering terms internally, including “the cult.”
On the subject of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet, who is not accused of any wrongdoing despite his brothers being named in the probe, Elliott said Perrottet was a leading figure in the party’s right faction, and had previously publicly criticized Ellis after sacking him over claims that Ellis failed to process hundreds of constituent inquiries. When asked about reports that Nassif was blocked from attending a Liberal Party event attended by former prime minister Scott Morrison and Perrottet, Elliott said he had no advance knowledge of the incident, but added: “I would have loved to have been there.”
The current ICAC inquiry was triggered by a parliamentary probe into development approval processes at The Hills Shire Council, which evaluated Nassif’s controversial Cherrybrook project, after allegations of improper influence were aired in state parliament.