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The NSW Liberal Party dismissed concerns brought by senior party members who tried to block ICAC target Christian Ellis from being elected to the party’s powerful state executive due to his lobbying company and links to fugitive Sydney property developer Jean Nassif.
Ellis is among a group of Liberal Party apparatchiks who face allegations they were involved in corrupt donation schemes involving Nassif and others. The explosive allegations will form part of an eight-week inquiry before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) beginning this month.
But The Sydney Morning Herald can reveal senior party figures held significant concerns about Ellis long before he came to the attention of the anti-corruption watchdog, and sought to stop his ascension to the party’s state executive as far back as 2019.
The Herald has confirmed then Liberal Party state director Chris Stone obtained legal advice after allegations were made that Ellis that should not be allowed to serve on the party’s organisational wing – known as state executive – while simultaneously operating as a lobbyist.
Stone’s investigation followed a formal challenge to Ellis’s election to the state executive in 2019 by senior figures in the rival centre-right faction. Briefing documents sent to Stone – some of which have been obtained by the Herald – argued Ellis was ineligible to sit on the executive because of rules introduced by then prime minister Tony Abbott in 2013 banning lobbyists from holding elected positions within the party.
Ellis was a director and shareholder of lobbying outfit Beckington when it was formed in July 2019 along with fellow ICAC target and one-time Liberal Party member Jeremy Greenwood.
Ellis was elected to state executive on November 28, 2019, while other members of the hard-right factional group NSW Reformers, including fellow ICAC target Robert Assaf, were also elected to party committees. The state executive is the key decision-making body for internal Liberal matters in NSW and is responsible for co-ordinating the party’s activities.
State executive meeting minutes obtained by the Herald show the matter was raised on December 13, 2019, with state director Chris Stone tasked with providing advice on “how the division ensures [lobbyists] are not serving on state executive”.
“With respect to lobbyists being ineligible to serve on state executive, the state director was asked about the steps taken to ensure that this provision is not breached. The state director was asked to report back on this at the next meeting,” the document states.
But Stone ultimately decided to allow Ellis to remain on state executive. Corporate records show that despite registering as a director of Beckington when the business was registered in July 2019, he stepped down seven days after the December state executive meeting and was replaced by his wife.
However, company records show Beckington was part-owned by Greenwood, and another company called Belloc Associates. While Belloc Associates was wholly owned by Ellis’ wife, it was not the beneficiary of the shares.
That transfer of power was viewed cynically by some members who argued he could still retain control. It is now viewed as a sliding-doors moment by some within the party, given the damaging allegations levelled at Ellis and other party members by the ICAC.
“We belled the cat on this guy,” one Liberal Party source said.
Stone did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman from the NSW Liberal Party said: “When the issue in question was raised with the party it was thoroughly investigated, and based on the available information the party found that there had not been a breach of party rules and there were no constitutional grounds for action.”
Despite Nassif’s company Toplace not being listed as a Beckington client until July 2020, two sources present during the December 2019 meeting said Ellis’s relationship with Toplace was raised during the challenge. Others members present at the meeting could not remember or said discussion only revolved around his role as a lobbyist.
However, despite Stone declining to reject Ellis’s eligibility, the Herald understands there were multiple challenges to his eligibility to sit on the executive, including after Toplace became a client of Beckington’s.
The matter was mentioned in “The Men Who Stole The Hills” – an anonymously authored document that spelled out a series of allegations against Ellis and other Liberal members, tabled during an upper house inquiry in 2022 – which stated concerns were raised about Ellis’ eligibility to serve on the state executive.
“The constitution of the NSW Liberal Party prevents a registered lobbyists (sic) from serving on the powerful State Executive, to which Christian Ellis was elected to (sic),” the authors said.
Two members present during the December 2019 meeting said the matter was pressed by Alex Hawke, the federal Liberal MP, factional leader of the centre right and then prime minister Scott Morrison’s representative on the body.
A Liberal source present said Stone’s ultimate decision to allow Ellis to remain on executive relied on three arguments. Ellis wasn’t listed as an active lobbyist in NSW, the company said he was only employed in administrative support, and his wife was the shareholder.
However, Ellis rejoined Beckington as a director in March 2022. His wife resigned on the same day.
In August 2022, Ellis emailed party members notifying them he would not be seeking re-election but instead asked for support running as a delegate to the party’s federal council and as a member of a committee responsible for reforming the party’s constitution.
“In 2019 I was fortunate enough to be elected to the State Executive, along with many gifted members of the Party and true Party loyalist,” he wrote.
A member of the Mainstream Conservative Ticket, Ellis spruiked his employment for then-premier Dominic Perrottet, and senior Liberal ministers Anthony Roberts and Damien Tudehope.
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