ICAC witness concedes Elliott affair claim unfounded as inquiry probes Reformers

Inside the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption's Operation Rosny hearing, a central accusation crumbled on Tuesday. Dylan Whitelaw, a witness being questioned about alleged misconduct within the Liberal Party's hard-right Reformers faction, conceded under cross-examination that former minister David Elliott had not engaged in an extramarital affair—despite claims circulating in a document the Reformers had titled, bluntly, the "David Elliott shit sheet."

The alleged affair was said to have occurred during pandemic lockdowns, with Elliott supposedly photographed leaving another woman's home while his wife underwent cancer treatment. But when Elliott's lawyer, Bruce Levet, pressed Whitelaw on the details, the witness's account unraveled. The cancer treatment, Whitelaw acknowledged, had actually taken place in 2012—years before the lockdowns. He had never seen any photograph. No one had ever shown him one. When Levet suggested directly that no such affair had occurred, Whitelaw simply agreed. "I would accept that," he said.

Elliott responded swiftly with a statement rejecting what he called accusations from "the young boy, Dylan, and his colleagues on the religious right of the Liberal Party." He described himself as a devoted husband of thirty years and expressed frustration that his wife had been dragged into the dispute despite her sacrifices for the party. He signaled his willingness to testify before the commission if invited.

Yet the hearing's broader landscape remained turbulent. The inquiry is investigating whether members of the Reformers solicited or accepted donations from fugitive property developer Jean Nassif in exchange for political favors—specifically, the removal of building commissioner David Chandler. Whitelaw testified about an incident in 2022 when Christopher Spence, chief of staff to then-planning minister Anthony Roberts, claimed to possess a damaging video of Chandler. Spence allegedly planned to hand the video to fair trading minister Eleni Petinos for use during budget estimates, with the stated goal of discrediting Chandler. Whitelaw said he never saw the video, which he understood contained allegations that Chandler was racist and referenced a list of developers or certifiers the commissioner had flagged to banks.

Whether Spence's plan succeeded remained unclear. Whitelaw recalled a later conversation in which Spence walked into the office frustrated, saying something to the effect of: "I can't believe it, Eleni fucked it up." Two months after the alleged phone call in which Nassif claimed he had paid for Chandler's removal and boasted that "the fair trading minister is gonna be one of my girls," Premier Dominic Perrottet appointed Petinos to that very position in a reshuffle. Chandler resigned in July 2022 following an investigation Petinos had requested; he was later cleared of wrongdoing. The commission will need to determine whether Nassif's words were mere wishful thinking that happened to align with events, or evidence of actual coordination.

Separately, the inquiry heard testimony about purported payments from federal opposition leader Angus Taylor to the Reformers. Messages read into the record yesterday suggested Taylor had agreed with Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney to make a one-off payment of fifteen thousand dollars and a monthly donation of three thousand dollars. Taylor denied making any such payments. When counsel assisting Juliet Curtin asked Whitelaw whether the monthly amount Taylor allegedly offered bore any connection to a corresponding increase in what Catholic Schools NSW was paying to Beckington—a Reformer-controlled lobbying firm—Whitelaw said he could not speak to that. The timing, however, was suggestive: the increase in Beckington's retainer from Catholic Schools NSW occurred in March 2021, the same month the alleged Taylor commitment was discussed.

Neither Spence, Perrottet, nor Petinos has been named in any allegations or accused of wrongdoing. Liberal leader Kellie Sloane said she had checked in on Petinos, who is on maternity leave, and has not asked her to step aside from the shadow cabinet during the inquiry. The hearing concluded for the day with these questions still hanging in the air—questions about who knew what, who paid whom, and whether the machinery of government was bent to serve factional interests.