Kellie Sloane says ‘leaking a report is never good’ as Reformer Jean-Claude Perrottet tells inquiry group signed up members to ‘dodgy’ branches
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The younger brother of a former Liberal premier has told an anti-corruption watchdog that a group of young conservative power breakers, now under investigation for soliciting illegal donations, recruited members to “dodgy” branches controlled by rival factions.
Jean-Claude Perrottet, the younger brother of ex-New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet, appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (Icac) on Wednesday.
Icac is investigating whether members of the so-called Reformers, including Jean-Claude Perrottet, solicited or accepted illegal donations for the recruitment or renewal of members to the Liberal party. That practice, known as branch stacking, is not illegal.
The inquiry has heard that Jean-Claude Perrottet, 29, was among the Reformers who avoided summons to appear at a parliamentary inquiry which preceded Icac’s Operation Rosny.
The NSW shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, claimed on Tuesday that he had discussed with Dominic Perrottet that Jean-Claude was in Fiji during the 2023 inquiry.
The state Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, on Wednesday said she would reserve any decision about Tudehope’s future until the end of Icac’s inquiry after he admitted to leaking a confidential draft report from the parliamentary inquiry to another Reformer, Jeremy Greenwood, in February 2023.
“Damien cooperated with the inquiry,” Sloane told reporters.
“He was thanked by the inquiry and he was released from his summons. The leaking of a report is never good. It’s a standard that I don’t accept.
“I spoke to Damien about that … but the status remains that Damien is not in my shadow cabinet for the remainder of these hearings – and that’s appropriate.”
Sloane said she would “make a consideration once Icac proceedings have finalised”.
The Liberal’s leader in the upper house, Tudehope, who is not named in the Icac allegations, has stepped aside from his shadow cabinet roles during the inquiry.
Tudehope, who employed Jean-Claude Perrottet as a staffer in his electoral and ministerial offices in 2018 and 2019, told Icac on Tuesday that Jean-Claude had a “talent” for recruiting and renewing members to the party, which he said was essential for any Liberal member looking to keep hold of their seat at preselection.