Has the NSW Premier's brother Charles Perrottet followed property developer Jean Nassif's example and left the country or has he otherwise made himself 'unavailable'?

 

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 7 – PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

MEDIA RELEASE

KEY WITNESSES FAILING TO CO-OPERATE WITH

PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL AND PROPERTY DEVELOPERS IN THE REGION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

14 FEBRUARY 2023

The Upper House Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment has continued to face difficulties in summonsing witnesses to appear before it in its inquiry into allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region.

Ms Sue Higginson MLC, Chair of the committee, said: "The committee invited Councillor Virginia Ellis, Mr Christian Ellis, and Mr Jean-Claude Perrottet to give evidence at a public hearing. When none responded, we resolved to take the significant step of summonsing these individuals. Parliamentary staff have since made multiple attempts to personally serve the summons on these individuals but have been unsuccessful. As none of these witnesses has come forward, I can only reach the conclusion that they are making a deliberate decision to avoid appearing before the committee".

The committee has also issued a summons for Mr Charles Perrottet to attend but understands he may not be in New South Wales at this time.

Ms Higginson continued: "The committee is extremely disappointed in the actions of these individuals in failing to come forward and co-operate. Committee inquiries are an essential part of the Legislative Council's role as a House of scrutiny and review. The failure to cooperate with this committee demonstrates a blatant disregard of Parliamentary process. Noting that we will now step up our efforts to secure the attendance of these individuals at a public hearing, including by engaging professional process servers to serve the summonses, we again call on each one of them to do the right thing and come forward".

Two public hearings will be held on Wednesday and Thursday this week in the Dixson Room, State Library of New South Wales, which will also be livestreamed on the Parliament's website. At this stage, the committee will be taking evidence from the General Manager of The Hills Shire Council and Dr Michelle Byrne, Former Mayor.

Further information about the inquiry, including the terms of reference can be found on the committee's webpage.

-ENDS

BACKGROUND

North Coast Voices, Tuesday, 14 February 2023,

"Only 39 days remaining until the NSW state election and Liberal MP for Epping & Premier Dominic Perrottet's troubles are multiplying" 

Only 39 days remaining until the NSW state election and Liberal MP for Epping & Premier Dominic Perrottet's troubles are multiplying.

 

Perrottet's first problem of the month....

Audit Office of New South Wales, Bushfire recovery grants: Environment Industry Compliance Internal controls and governance Management and administration Service delivery, 2 February 2023, excerpts from report highlights.

What the report is about

The Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) program was created after the 2019–20 bushfires, and commits $541.8 million to bushfire affected areas in New South Wales. It is co-funded by the Commonwealth and NSW governments.

This audit assessed how effectively the Department of Regional NSW (the department) and Resilience NSW administered rounds one and two of the BLER program….

What we found

The Department of Regional NSW did not effectively administer the Fast-Tracked stream of the BLER.

The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency.

At the request of the Deputy Premier's office, a $1 million threshold was applied, below which projects were not approved for funding….

This threshold resulted in a number of shortlisted projects in areas highly impacted by the bushfires being excluded, including all shortlisted projects located in Labor Party-held electorates….. [my yellow highlighting]

The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 February 2023:

The Perrottet government has handed the corruption watchdog a copy of a scathing investigation which found an intervention by the office of the then-deputy premier John Barilaro diverted funding for a $100 million bushfire recovery program away from Labor-held electorates.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet provided the report exposing serious transparency failures to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday morning, sidestepping NSW Labor leader Chris Minns who had earlier threatened to do the same.

A damning report by the auditor-general released on Thursday revealed that instead of following guidelines, the office of the then-NSW Nationals leader devised their own rules to fast-track money to areas hit by the 2019 Black Summer catastrophe – a switch that meant 96 per cent of projects funded were in Coalition-held seats.

Minns issued the former deputy premier a 24-hour ultimatum to explain the reasons behind the 2021 decision or have the matter referred to ICAC by Labor. The Labor leader’s office was drafting a letter to the ICAC on Friday afternoon…..

Perrottet's latest political headache....

IMAGE: ABC News, 11 February 2023

Jean-Claude Perrottet and Charles Perrottet (pictured) were called to appear before NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment inquiry into "Allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region".

Allegations of impropriety centre around a June 2022 statement made under parliamentary privilege by another Liberal MLA, Ray Williams, that senior members of the party & state executive received payment from a property developer to facilitate the selection of Liberal candidates at the December 2022 local government election who if elected would hold a favourable view of his development applications.

 

However, along with senior office holder in NSW Liberal Party and lobbyist Christian Ellis, Councillor Virginia Ellis (Lib) and property developer Jean Nassif, the Perrottet brothers (both NSW Liberal Party members) have failed to indicate attendance at the inquiry or acknowledge official summons.

While former The Hills Shire councillor Alan Haselden (Lib) appears to have walked back his previously expressed concerns.

Chair of Portfolio Committee No. 7 stated in an official 11 February media release: "This appears to be a calculated and coordinated attempt to avoid scrutiny by the NSW Parliament. The committee is extremely concerned by this behaviour and calls on these individuals to cooperate with the inquiry."

As the Inquiry is due to report to the NSW Parliament no later than 2 March 2023, just 23 days before the state election, in my opinion there is a strong suspicion that any failure of these persons to give evidence would possibly be part of a deliberate effort to forestall that report to Parliament.

Not a good look for the Premier.