Reformers associate may have ‘boasted’ or ‘lied’ about a $15,000 commitment from Angus Taylor, Icac hears

A factional ally of Angus Taylor has denied ever asking the federal opposition leader for money for a group of Liberal party Christian power brokers who allegedly solicited illegal donations, suggesting a Reformers associate may have “lied” about a $15,000 commitment.

The Catholic Schools NSW chief executive, Dallas McInerney, gave evidence at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday. Icac is investigating whether McInerney arranged and approved donations from the governing body for 600 Catholic schools to support alleged branch stacking efforts of the conservative Christian group the Reformers.

On Thursday, McInerney was asked about a message to Reformer Robert Assaf in March 2021.

In the message, which Assaf shared with other members of the group, McInerney said he had a “breakfast club with ministers”, asking for an update on “SCD [state council delegate] progress in the last six to 12 months”.

“I want to shake down Angus for 10k,” McInerney wrote. On Thursday, McInerney said the message referred to a breakfast meeting with NSW Liberal ministers, as well as a separate request to Taylor, but said the money would have been for “support for upcoming internal elections” and not the Reformers.

He said any money would have gone to “printing brochures, pamphlets, postage, mailout”.

McInerney was asked about a subsequent message sent by Reformers associate Dylan Whitelaw to members of the group days later, in which he wrote: “Dallas has told me he got the commitment from Angus, the 15k injection plus a 3k monthly donation!”

He said: “The only explanation I can venture, noting this is not my exchange of correspondence, is that I did emerge from that meeting [with Taylor] with an in-principle support … [for] the internal elections for the conservative faction.”

Pressed by counsel assisting, Juliet Curtin, on why Whitelaw might have thought the money was for the Reformers, he said that one of “a number of explanations” was that Whitelaw had lied. “He lied … He boasted. He lied,” suggested McInerney.

When asked about the messages at the inquiry last month, Whitelaw said he did not recall sending them, nor did he recall Taylor making a financial contribution to the Reformers.

McInerney, who said he had never asked Taylor for money for the Reformers, said he could not recall if Taylor made a commitment of $15,000, or an ongoing commitment of $3,000 for internal elections.

The only senior Liberal he could recall having contributed directly to the Reformers was the late former federal vice-president, Teena McQueen, who died in June.

Taylor has not been named in Icac’s allegations and has repeatedly denied he ever made payments to the Reformers. On Thursday he reiterated to a press conference that he would not provide a running commentary on Icac’s hearings.

One of Taylor’s staffers, Kane Silom, was criticised after he rebuked Network Ten journalist Ashleigh Raper for asking Taylor whether he had spoken with McInerney about sending money to the Reformers.

After the press conference ended, with cameras still running, Silom said to Raper: “Are your ratings that bad? Seriously, that’s a fricking disgrace.”

The inquiry has heard the Reformers wanted more conservative policies on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. A document drafted around the group’s inception proposed to recruit 5,000 Christian conservatives to join New South Wales Liberal party branches “and thereby take control of the NSW division of the Liberal party”.

‘Spectacularly unsuccessful in their ambitions’

McInerney also told the inquiry he sought advice from then-New South Wales treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, about two key Reformers, whose company was engaged by Catholic Schools NSW without tender to provide “public relations and government services”.

Catholic Schools NSW became the first client of Beckington, a company run by Christian Ellis, and Jeremy Greenwood. The two conservative catholic Liberal operatives were paid a $10,000 retainer and $6,000 a month – $130,900 in total between August 2019 and August 2021, Icac has heard.

Greenwood’s company, JPG Advisory, was paid $135,000 between December 2021 and December 2023.

McInerney agreed he did not consider any other lobbyists before awarding the contract to Beckington.

The inquiry is looking at whether the Reformers issued sham invoices to various groups, including Catholic Schools NSW, to disguise the donations.

McInerney stood aside from his role as CEO before the Icac hearings began “to allow the work of Catholic Schools NSW to continue its important mission”, he previously said in a statement.

McInerney on Thursday admitted he first became aware of Reformers’ recruitment events in late 2018 and 2019. He said he was “mostly” supportive of their goals.

Curtin asked: “What’s the qualification here, Mr McInerney?”

“They were spectacularly unsuccessful in their ambitions,” he replied. “I never thought the model was right.”

McInerney on Thursday accepted he had begun to speak frequently to Reformers Ellis, Robert Assaf and Jean-Claude Perrottet by 2020. Asked if he knew that the men were “fervent” in the pursuit of the Reformers’ goals, McInerney said the word was “very subjective”.

Asked if “passionate” was a better word, he said: “I actually don’t think there was a passion there. I think it was a calling for them, a duty.”

Nearly 80% of funding managed by Catholic Schools NSW comes from federal and state sources, or about $3.8bn in 2024.

On Thursday, Icac produced a WhatsApp from Ellis in 2020 saying that the Reformers were targeting “like minded conservatives”, who could “dip into their government relations budget to help fund our cause.”

McInerney was grilled about emails in which he provided detailed advice to Ellis about drawing up the pitch for Catholic Schools.

“You’re telling him to get an ABN and a mail box. You are telling Mr Ellis how he can pitch to Catholic Schools NSW,” Curtin said.

“I was letting him know what were our needs and requirements,” McInerney said. “This is a traditional due diligence.”

“I want to suggest to Mr McInerney that it is anything but due diligence. You are a lawyer by training, Mr McInerney … you’re telling him that he should put in content about how to help build communication channels. That suggests that he was not the right person for the job,” Curtin said.

McInerney said it was an “iterative process” and denied he was attempting to provide “a veneer of legitimacy” to the contract.

McInerney said he sought advice from Dominic Perrottet about Ellis and Greenwood and “their parliamentary experience”.

“I can’t remember what he said. It was favourable, he knew both the individuals,” McInerney said.

McInerney said he did not talk to Damien Tudehope, Ellis’s employer until July 2020. Ellis had been asked to leave the minister’s office.

On Thursday, the inquiry heard that McInerney, the only CEO of Catholic Schools NSW since its founding in 2017, joined the Liberal party while at school in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He remained a member until June this year, when he also ceased being the president of the Mittagong branch.

McInerney admitted to having his own political ambitions “off and on for several” years, but said he was “at peace” with not taking over the late federal Liberal senator Jim Molan’s seat. Molan died in January 2023 but McInerney missed out on the Senate spot.

He was read messages exchanged between him and Greenwood in which he wrote: “I know I’ve been fucked.”

After evidence on Wednesday, the NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, removed upper house member Chris Rath as her representative on the Liberal party’s state executive. The commission heard evidence that Rath helped Reformers avoid summons for a 2023 parliamentary inquiry which preceded Icac’s probe.

The shadow planning and arts minister, who received a caution from the parliamentary privileges committee in 2023 and recused himself from the parliamentary inquiry, has been referred to the privileges committee a second time over the incident. He has not been named as a person of interest in Icac’s allegations, and remains on the front bench.

Icac’s inquiry continues.

– additional reporting by Krishani Dhanji

Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.