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Updated July 30, 2026 — 5:01pm,first published 11:51am
NSW Liberal operative Robert Assaf has told a corruption inquiry that party apparatchik Jean-Claude Perrottet deserved to be paid for his work in recruiting new branch members because he needed the extra income.
Assaf, who spent a year training to be a priest before joining the Liberals and founding religious conservative group the Reformers, appeared on Thursday as a person of interest in the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s wide-ranging probe into illegal donations.
The inquiry heard Assaf was happy for Perrottet to be paid for his factional and branch stacking work with the funds contributed to the Reformers by hotelier and prohibited donor Michael O’Hara.
Assaf told the commission he remembered Perrottet complaining about not being paid enough in his employment at the time, and about the amount of work he was doing for the Reformers.
Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, asked Assaf if he thought it was a “fair cop” for someone to be compensated for recruiting Liberal party members. “Yes,” Assaf said.
Assaf said he was concerned to learn Perrottet, the youngest brother of former premier Dominic, was paying for memberships as part of the Reformers’ push to sign up members to the Liberal Party and take over branches.
“Anything Claude did at that time, noting his brother’s position, I was sensitive to,” Assaf said.
Assaf also told the commission several senior right-wing MPs, including federal Leader Angus Taylor, backed the work of the Reformers, which was actively recruiting party members to stack branches.
While Taylor has insisted “no payments” have been made by him to the Reformers, Assaf confirmed the Liberal leader was aware of the work of the Reformers.
“Angus was around it, but I don’t think he was really that involved,” Assaf said.
Dwyer asked whether it was correct Taylor was “somebody who got to know the work of the Reformers?”
Assaf replied: “I don’t know how much detail, but he definitely was across the Right faction activities, and we were part of that.”
Taylor was again pressed on Thursday to comment on explosive claims heard this week that he promised a $15,000 “injection” for the work of the Reformers, along with a $3000 monthly contribution.
Taylor has denied any “payments” were made and stressed he is not a party to the ICAC investigation but when asked again about the matter in Queensland on Thursday, he said: “I’ve answered these questions yesterday. I’m not going to give a running commentary on it.”
Assaf told the commission he was drawn to politics because he opposed the same-sex plebiscite and was convinced to join the Liberals after he went to a talk given by right-wing elder and MP Damien Tudehope.
Assaf said he initially had an “icky feeling” about politics. However, he was invited to a talk at the Sydney University Liberal Club, where Tudehope – now a senior upper house MP – was speaking.
“By the end of that night, I decided to join,” Assaf said.
Assaf went on to set up the Reformers with his friend Christian Ellis, who is also a person of interest in this ICAC inquiry.
Assaf told the commission he and Ellis wanted to establish a religious group to promote their conservative values, including opposition to same-sex marriage and the Safe Schools program, which was a federally funded anti-bullying initiative focused on supporting LGBTQ students.
Assaf said the Reformers’ recruitment model was based on inviting people to talks, such as the Tudehope one he attended, and then signing them up as Liberal members.
The Reformers would send out petitions about conservative issues, such as religious freedoms, and if there was significant interest in the petition in a particular part of the state, the Reformers would organise an event with a high-profile speaker, with the goal of signing up new members to the Liberal Party.
“Christian [Ellis] and I went to as many of the conservative-aligned MPs in the right that would listen to us and explain to them what we were trying to do, and they loved it,” Assaf said.
“Someone once told me, in politics you always back self-interest. So I think from their self-interested perspective, they saw two young guys who were happy to do some branch work, and they were naturally happy to support that.”
He told the commission the Reformers’ first event was held in February 2018, with speakers including Tony Abbott and Tudehope. About 100 people attended, Assaf said.
One of the early supporters of the Reformers’ work, Assaf said, was Tudehope, who would speak at events to promote certain conservative values. Assaf described him as a “warrior” in his beliefs, especially around right-to-life issues such as euthanasia.
