‘Warring kingdoms’: cofounder of religious Reformers compares NSW Liberal party factionalism to Braveheart

A member of a group of young conservative Liberal power brokers being investigated for allegedly soliciting illegal donations has compared their factional work to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – and said they “didn’t think the law applied to us” when it came to political funding.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday heard from Robert Assaf, the first witness from the conservative right Liberal factional group the Reformers to give evidence.

Icac is investigating whether Liberal figures, including Assaf, “solicited or accepted” donations, including from prohibited donors, in amounts which were undeclared or exceeded caps, to recruit or renew members to the party – a practice known as “branch-stacking”. The Reformers allegedly wanted more conservative policies on issues including same-sex marriage, transgender rights, abortion and euthanasia.

Assaf, 30, who admitted to being one of two founding members of the Reformers in 2017, said the group was started in the context of a factional split in the Liberal party between the religious conservative hard right and the centre-right.

“My observations at the time were, the right faction was like – I’m not sure if you’ve seen Braveheart – but like these warring kingdoms, and they would slaughter each other, and then every now and then they’d come together for a big fight,” Assaf said.

While branch-stacking is not of itself illegal, Icac is investigating whether the alleged conduct of the Reformers involved possible offences under NSW’s Electoral Funding Act. Asked about his knowledge of the laws governing donations, Assaf told Icac that the group “didn’t think the law applied to us”.

“Because it was an electoral law, we’re not campaigning in elections in that sense,” he told counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC.

“We’re internal Liberal party machinations. My understanding the whole way through was, until very recently … was it’s internal. It doesn’t count as anything to do with electoral laws or any other law.”

He defended the Reformers, which includes members being investigated over a second allegation: that they took $2m in payments from the fugitive property developer Jean Nassif in exchange for outcomes sought by Nassif.

“The Reformers sound really spooky in the media right now, but it was just a bunch of 20-year-old people trying to figure things out,” Assaf said.

Assaf appeared after two days of evidence from former Liberal staffer Dylan Whitelaw, who was associated with the group but has not been named in allegations against the Reformers.

After being mentioned during Whitelaw’s examination on Tuesday and Wednesday, the federal opposition leader, Angus Taylor, dodged further questions on Thursday after denying he had ever donated to the Reformers.

“I’ve answered these questions yesterday. I’m not going to give a running commentary on it,” Taylor said. The federal Liberal leader is not accused of wrongdoing.

On Thursday, Assaf claimed Taylor was one of several state and federal Liberal politicians who were aware of and supported the Reformers’ work.

“Angus was around it, but I don’t think he was really that involved,” Assaf said. “He definitely wasn’t opposed.”

He said the former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet, whose brothers Jean-Claude and Charles Perrottet are named in the Icac allegations, was “pretty absent in the whole thing, but supportive from what I understood”. Dominic Perrottet is not accused of wrongdoing.

The commission heard Assaf went to the same independent Catholic schoolas Jean-Claude and Charles Perrottet, as well as another member of the Reformers, Jeremy Greenwood.

After spending a year in a Catholic seminary, Assaf later worked in federal parliament for various ministers, senators and MPs, including Tony Abbott, who the commission heard gave talks at recruitment events hosted by the Reformers.

He described having an “icky feeling” about getting involved in politics, but said he was convinced to join the Liberal party after attending a 2015 talk at the Sydney University Liberal club by NSW upper house member Damien Tudehope, against the Safe Schools program, whose stated aim was to keep gay and transgender students safe.

Assaf, who described Tudehope as “a warrior for the values that he cared about”, said the politician subsequently gave numerous talks at events hosted by the Reformers.

Tudehope, who is not accused of wrongdoing, stepped aside from his role as shadow attorney general and Liberal upper house leader after being called as a witness by Icac.

The inquiry heard that Assaf and fellow Reformer, Christian Ellis, started the group in 2017, after forming a strong friendship while working together on the No campaign for the same-sex marriage plebiscite.

The inquiry heard that adopting the model that had seen Assaf recruited, the group began to organise talks on conservative issues, aiming to sign up new members afterwards.

Dwyer on Thursday showed Assaf a draft document sent to him by Ellis which detailed a plan to recruit 5,000 Christian conservative members to the party to take control of the NSW division of the Liberal party, which had 4,000 members at the time.

Assaf said the main aim of the Reformers was “policy change” but increasing the number of members in the Liberal party was “certainly part of the process”.

Asked about a stated aim “to take over left-wing branches through stealth”, Assaf said “ideally, we would not want to take branches through stealth”.

“I prefer to be a front stabber than a back stabber,” he added, stating the group’s intention was to create a “broad church” within the party. Assaf said they wanted to “change the terrible situation of factionalism”.

“Christians obviously don’t like lying,” he said. “But there was a strategy to it, and some people needed to be more comfortable with that than others.”

The inquiry heard the Reformers expanded to include members such as Jean-Claude Perrottet and Greenwood and began to have success taking over branches.

“Great news. God’s granted us a victory. We’ve officially taken the Coffs Harbor branch away from the left wing,” wrote Assaf in one email.

But the inquiry heard Assaf became concerned that some Reformers were paying for the cost of new memberships, a practice which under Liberal party rules would see branches frozen.

Under questioning from Dwyer, Assaf said this included Jean-Claude Perrottet, while his brother Dominic Perrottet was serving as a NSW MP.

“Anything [Jean-]Claude did at that time, noting his brother’s position, I was sensitive to,” he said. Jean-Claude Perrottet has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Assaf occasionally clashed with Dwyer over his ability to remember details about the Reformers, including an agreement with prohibited donor Michael O’Hara.

On Monday, O’Hara admitted to a fake arrangement in which he paid registered lobbyist Beckington, founded by Christian Ellis, for “strategic wealth strategy investment advice” when in fact he understood he was paying to “get my conservative values into the Liberal Party”. But he disputed whether the payments to the Reformers were to the NSW Liberals or should be considered political donations.

At one point on Thursday, Dwyer asked Assaf, “Can I suggest to you that in fact you were aware of this arrangement, whether your memory is being refreshed or not?”

Assaf said: “You can suggest it, but the problem is … my memory is my memory.”

But Assaf, who admitted to the bogus arrangement with O’Hara, said the Reformers later became concerned that Ellis was “getting rich” on the money rather than using it for factional work. O’Hara told Ellis he would end the arrangement.

“Ellis might have to cancel the upgrade to his fifth Land Cruiser, ha ha ha ha,” Assaf wrote in a message to Greenwood and Jean-Claude Perrottet.

The inquiry heard that Assaf, Greenwood and Jean-Claude Perrottet were able to salvage the arrangement with O’Hara directing the money to another vehicle not controlled by Ellis. Jean-Claude Perrottet wrote in a message: ‘O’Hara saved”, to which Greenwood replied “Good work. How’s your mouth taste.”

“That sounds like a crass reference,” Assaf told the inquiry.

Icac’s inquiry continues.