ICAC Operation Rosny LIVE updates: Robert Assaf continues evidence after claims Angus Taylor knew of NSW Reformers work

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Welcome to day five

By Jessica McSweeney

Good morning and welcome to the fifth day of public hearings as the Independent Commission Against Corruption investigates links between Liberal Party operatives, fugitive developer Jean Nassif and Catholic Schools NSW.

We’re expecting another full day of evidence from former Catholic Schools NSW staffer and founding member of hard right Liberal factional group the NSW Reformers, Robert Assaf.

Before we begin, let’s recap what we learnt yesterday:

• Assaf told the commission he thought it was fair that Jean-Claude Perrottet be paid using money from prohibited donor and hotelier Michael O’Hara to support his work recruiting conservative Liberal Party members in the Hills.
• Assaf agreed that monthly payments from O’Hara to Christian Ellis’ Beckington Group were used to support Reformers activities rather than genuine consulting work.
• When asked if he was aware of donation laws, Assaf said he didn’t believe the Reformers to be a political party and therefore “didn’t think the law applied to us”.
• Assaf said the Reformers sounded “spooky” in the media but were “just a bunch of 20-year-old people trying to figure things out”.
• The right wing of the Liberal Party is comparable to the film Braveheart, Assaf told the commission: “these warring kingdoms, and they would slaughter each other, and then every now and then they’d come together for a big fight, and that was how the Right was”.