‘We execute the prick’: Charles Perrottet sent text plotting downfall of NSW Liberal minister, Icac hears

Text Message Reveals Plot to Oust NSW Liberal Minister, ICAC Inquiry Hears

Wanderstayfinder.com – A blunt text message sent by former NSW Liberal figure Charles Perrottet to his wife two days before his brother Dominic was elected state premier has drawn scrutiny at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which is probing alleged corruption within the NSW Liberal Party. The message, dated Sunday 3 October 2021, contained a plan to remove David Elliott from his ministerial role, with Perrottet writing that the pair would act on it immediately once the party-room vote concluded.

“We execute the prick as soon as party room is over.”

The remark was read aloud during Friday’s hearing by counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, who presented a series of text exchanges between Charles and Anita Perrottet. The conversation took place just 48 hours before Liberal members voted to install Dominic Perrottet — a member of the party’s conservative right faction — as premier under a weekend agreement brokered with the moderate faction led by Matt Kean.

Context of the Message

Charles Perrottet, who had been advising his brother on the leadership bid, told the inquiry he had spoken at length with Dominic that evening. He relayed that Dominic had expressed gratitude spanning two decades of political collaboration and had apologised for what he called “the Elliott stuff.” When Anita Perrottet asked whether Dominic had confirmed he would not retain Elliott in a ministry, Charles replied that the question was reserved for the following day.

“I didn’t ask. That’s a call for tomorrow. I told him to turn his phone off and savour the moment with Helen, as tomorrow and Tuesday is going to be crucial in showing unity.”

At the close of his evidence, Charles Perrottet conceded the message referred to Elliott but framed his frustration in personal terms. He said he was irritated by what he described as an “anyone but Dom” campaign Elliott had waged among Liberal MPs over the preceding weekend.

“I was pretty annoyed at the time of the way David handled himself over the course of the weekend,” he told the commission.

The Broader ICAC Investigation

The inquiry, presided over by commissioner Fabian Gleeson, is examining whether figures connected to the NSW Liberals accepted prohibited political donations between 2020 and 2023 from Jean Nassif, a property developer currently in flight from Australian authorities, and his company Toplace. Among the alleged outcomes tied to those donations was the deliberate undermining of Elliott’s political career. Dominic Perrottet is not listed as a person of interest and faces no formal accusation of wrongdoing.

Elliott, who served as police minister in the Berejiklian government before being shifted to the transport portfolio in a reshuffle, told the inquiry last week that Nassif targeted him specifically because of his opposition to Toplace development projects. The commission has previously heard legally intercepted telephone recordings in which Nassif claimed he had “forced the boys” to eliminate Elliott’s seat of Baulkham Hills and had dispatched what he described as “Castle Hill fucking hundreds of new members” to destabilise the local branch.

Elliott ultimately retired from politics ahead of the March 2023 state election after his electorate was abolished and he failed to secure adequate branch support in the successor seat of Castle Hill.

Alleged Financial Arrangements

The commission has heard that Charles Perrottet, along with Liberal operatives Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood, were expected to receive a combined $2 million from Nassif, to be divided equally among the three. Anita Perrottet is alleged to have received Charles’s share through invoices issued by her consulting firm, Macquarie Consulting, to two lobbying entities: Beckington, controlled by Ellis and Greenwood, and JPG Advisory, controlled by Greenwood.

On Friday, Charles Perrottet told the inquiry that Greenwood introduced him to Nassif in late 2019 or early 2020, after which he began advising the developer on his projects through the Beckington vehicle. He stated the two met in person between 10 and 12 times. When pressed on whether Greenwood proposed he “share in the financial spoils” of that advisory work, Perrottet — who already held a salaried position at BP — said the pair agreed on an arrangement under which Anita would be compensated.

“I think the words to the effect were, ‘You’ve got a commercial relationship with Anita. She’s enjoying coming back to work. Just continue that relationship and look after her.'”

Anita Perrottet’s Testimony

Anita Perrottet gave evidence immediately before her husband on Friday. Under sustained questioning from both Dwyer and Gleeson, she said she could not recall the specific text messages read into the record. She consistently rejected characterisations of her husband as the “muscle” behind the conservative right faction or as a “power broker” operating within the party machinery.

The ICAC’s work represents one of the most extensive corruption inquiries into Australian state-level politics in recent decades. Its findings could reshape understandings of how private wealth, factional ambition, and ministerial appointments intersected in New South Wales during the turbulent period surrounding the 2021 Liberal leadership contest and the subsequent reshuffle that followed.