Strange things are happening in NSW Parliament, where upper house MPs are rushing to finish off an inquiry that has heard damning allegations about the premier’s brother, ordered private investigators to fan out across the state, and published salacious chapters from a book written by an anonymous person.
Insiders say the inquiry into allegations of impropriety against a Sydney Hills Shire Council and property developers is “odd” in many ways.
For instance, MPs on the inquiry heard public evidence from a witness between 11am and 12.15pm today — just hours before their final report was due to be tabled.
Crikey understands the report is due to be handed down at 4pm. The reason for the rush is that the current parliament will expire at midnight as the government goes into caretaker mode ahead of the March 25 election.
A source said it wasn’t “normal” that committees would begin drafting reports before hearing all the evidence.
“Usually, you collect the evidence, the committee staff write up a report, the chair looks at it, the committee makes amendments, and then it’s published,” the person said.
Another “unprecedented” aspect is the committee’s decision to table documents written by people whose identities the members have no clue about.
Labor MP John Graham has tabled three chapters from a book, written by an anonymous person, titled The Men Who Stole the Hills.
The chapters come with title pages that have a digitally created leather-bound look and are filled with detailed information about the Liberal Party people the anonymous author claims have been involved in factional shenanigans in the Hills district, located in Sydney’s northwest.
Crikey understands the committee sought advice from the Parliament’s clerk about whether the unsourced documents could be tabled, and was told it was very “unusual”, but not impossible.
Coalition MPs have complained the publishing risks setting a dangerous precedent for furture inquiries, but Graham defended the move.
“We’ve taken the serious step of tabling this document with the committee becaue of the level of detail contained within it, it’s apparent credibility, and also the fact that witnesses are being very hard to find,” Graham told Crikey.
Asked if he thought the publication might damage the credibility of the inquiry, Graham said: “I think it’s appropriate in the circumstances, and that’s also the view of the majority of the committee.”
The inquiry was sparked after a Liberal MP alleged in state Parliament that a developer had met with senior party members who were “paid significant funds in order to arrange to put new councillors” on the Hills Shire Council who would be supportive of development applications. The developer has denied those allegations.
Two Liberals on the committee, Chris Rath and Aileen MacDonald, have recused themselves from the inquiry to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest because they were on the Liberal Party’s state executive committee when the Hills Shire preselections were decided.
The committee previously heard allegations that Perrottet’s brother Jean-Claude Perrottet, and a former Liberal state executive, had asked businessman Frits Maré for $50,000 in 2019 to fund a branch-stacking operation aimed at unseating Scott Morrison’s close ally Alex Hawke from his Hills district electorate of Mitchell.
Jean-Claude Perrottet, who denies the allegation, and his brother Charles are two of the people committee staff have been trying to track down with the help of private investigators.
A progress report from a private firm made public on Wednesday and dated February 27 said an agent had knocked on the door of a home where Jean-Claude was believed to be.
“Upon arrival I knocked on the door several times did not receive an answer … I then walked around to the back of the premises and there was a window opened and I could clearly see inside,” the agent wrote.
“I noticed that the letter box was full of junk mail and there was a flier that was protruding out with a name of another person, I waited for approximately one hour out the front and no one arrived.”
The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday Jean-Claude Perrottet had written to the committee saying he was abroad, that he would not appear because he didn’t believe he would get “procedural fairness”, and that he denied the “completely false” allegations against him.
Charles Perrottet also contacted the committee, writing in an email on February 20 that he declined the invitation to appear.
The NSW Premier has complained the Labor MPs on the committee are “playing silly games” with his family for political gain.
