‘You have got to go’: former NSW minister tells Icac ‘something strange at play’ when she was sacked by Perrottet

Eleni Petinos has told the Icac inquiry she suspected she or her office was being used to try to get rid of building commissioner David Chandler. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

The former New South Wales fair trading minister Eleni Petinos has given evidence at a corruption inquiry that she may have been used by fellow Liberals to try to get rid of the building commissioner David Chandler, recounting numerous attempts in 2022 to persuade her he was “dodgy” and should be sacked.

She has also told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) inquiry that her subsequent sacking as a minister in the Dominic Perrottet government in July 2022 – allegedly for bullying staff – was unfair and potentially motivated by her reluctance to sack the building commissioner.