Contractors travel 1,900km in search of NSW inquiry witnesses, including Dominic Perrottet’s brother

A road to Deniliquin, 700km west of Sydney, where contractors went in search of three Liberal party members. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Private process servers made a 1,900-kilometre trek across New South Wales to find three Liberal party members – including Dominic Perrottet’s younger brother – in a fruitless attempt to force them to front an inquiry looking into an alleged branch stacking plot aimed at unseating federal Coalition MP Alex Hawke.

New documents published on Wednesday by an upper house inquiry looking into allegations of “impropriety” made against a suburban Sydney council and property developers detail the extraordinary lengths taken by a private company tasked with finding Liberal party powerbroker Christian Ellis, his mother, Virginia Ellis, and Jean-Claude Perrottet.