Biggest idiot, grubbiest behaviour, best phone tap: The Operation Rosny Awards

The fugitive developer easily wins this category for his starring role in about a dozen recordings played to the commission. The calls revealed his vicious personality, and habit of big-noting himself and his influence.

In intercepted phone calls, Nassif called former planning minister Rob Stokes an “Aussie left-wing f---er”. David Elliott was a “bulldog bully” and the building commissioner David Chandler a “c--t” whom he vowed to “f--k sideways”. Nassif had a particular hatred for the then premier Gladys Berejiklian, whom he called a “f---ing bitch” and a “s--t”. He complained about COVID-19 lockdowns in one call to Jean-Claude Perrottet, a younger brother of the then treasurer Dominic Perrottet. “Time for a regime change,” Jean-Claude Perrottet replied. “She’s lost it, she’s lost it.”

When on the phone, Nassif also liked to boast. “I hold 50 per cent of the power of this government now,” he said at one stage. He also called himself the “godfather” of the Liberal Party’s hard-right faction

Many of these phone taps weren’t actually conducted by the ICAC; the calls were instead captured by a NSW Police strike force investigating Nassif over fraud and money laundering allegations. The recordings were handed to ICAC in 2022, and made for very helpful listening as the watchdog entered the early days of Operation Rosny.

The parliamentary probe into the Hills Shire Council in 2023 risked raising damaging information about the right-wing conservative group known as the Reformers and its relationship with Jean Nassif. The ICAC inquiry has revealed the absurd lengths to which some of the group went to avoid process servers. The most elaborate plot involved Jean-Claude Perrottet, who fled to Fiji for the duration of the inquiry. Greenwood paid $25,000 for the jaunt, and later suggested Nassif should cover the cost. He came back to Australia one day after the inquiry ended. Deirdre Chambers, what a coincidence!

The NSW Liberal Party operative is one of the key figures being investigated by ICAC over his alleged role in illegal donations and branch stacking. But he hasn’t made an appearance because he is now living in the United Kingdom and therefore out of the ICAC’s jurisdiction.

Joint winners: Damien Tudehope and Chris Rath

Operation Rosny unexpectedly uncovered details of how the two upper house Liberal MPs helped some men who were in the ICAC’s sights. Their stupidity in getting involved is astounding.

Tudehope admitted to leaking a confidential draft report from the Hills Shire Council parliamentary inquiry to lobbyist and Liberal Party operative Jeremy Greenwood in 2023. Tudehope was then the Coalition government’s most senior member of the upper house.

The Herald revealed Rath had been captured by wire tap helping the Reformers evade the statewide manhunt to force them to appear before parliament. He swiftly apologised when asked about the affair in July this year.

Both are now being investigated for potential contempt of parliament. And for now, Tudehope remains off Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane’s frontbench.

No competition. The counsel assisting the ICAC has been a force of nature, interrogating and demolishing the evidence proffered by many in the witness box.

Her forensic work has been a reminder that while the ICAC is not perfect, it is a force for good in a state with a shocking history of systemic corruption.

The wife of Charles Perrottet seemed astonished that she should be questioned about why $660,999 in payments ended up in her company’s bank account. She got highly defensive when questioned about the reliability of her testimony. She also got cranky when accused of lying under oath.

“I reject that,” the 41-year-old replied. “I’m not lying.” She was spotted laughing in the ICAC’s foyer after her time in the witness box concluded.

The lobbyist took an at-times combative approach to his interrogations. At one point, he snapped at someone in the hearing room and said, “Don’t give me that look!” When reprimanded by the commissioner, he apologised but also said he didn’t appreciate “faces being pulled” at him.

We will have to wait until next year to discover whether the ICAC recommends any criminal charges against the key players.

Special mention: Dallas McInerney

The now-former chief executive officer of Catholic Schools NSW faced claims that he funnelled funding and resources from the organisation towards the Reformers subfaction. The Liberal Party operative also performed a factory reset of his phone and iPad while still sworn in as a witness, which could have deleted potential evidence. He said he wiped the devices because his bank account may have been compromised via Apple Pay.

The Catholic Schools NSW board sacked McInerney in late August. He has now lost his job, influence within the Liberal Party, and any hope of running for federal parliament one day.

No explanation needed.