The brother of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet says he undertook factional work while on the clock for another MP in his first appearance before a corruption inquiry.
Jean-Claude Perrottet held rosary beads and appeared at times frustrated as he was grilled by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) about his work for a conservative Christian splinter group within the NSW Liberal Party's right faction, known as the Reformers.
The ICAC is investigating Jean-Claude Perrottet and other Liberal Party figures for possible breaches of donation laws.
The allegations first came to light in a 2022 parliamentary speech in which Liberal MP Ray Williams alleged disgraced developer Jean Nassif had given money to some Liberal Party operatives in return for favourable outcomes for his developments in the Hills Shire area.
Jean-Claude Perrottet was in Fiji during a previous parliamentary inquiry into those allegations, but is this week giving evidence to the ICAC.
The inquiry heard Mr Perrottet was "passionate" about his work trying to get right-wing control of Liberal Party branches, with a 2019 text message read out between fellow Reformers Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood.
"Claude either needs a Valium or a break from the faction work to rest," the message from Mr Greenwood to Mr Ellis said, sent after Mr Greenwood gave Mr Perrottet a lift.
"The whole drive he was just muttering different movements into Pennant Hills and Cheltenham."
Mr Perrottet laughed after the text was read out and later said: "I like doing a good job, so when there's a task I like to achieve it, when there's something to be done I like to do it well."
Under questioning from Counsel Assisting Juliet Curtin, Mr Perrottet said he sometimes did factional duties while working for veteran Liberal MP Damien Tudehope.
Mr Tudehope has not been accused of any wrongdoing and stepped down from the opposition frontbench last month after being called as a witness to the inquiry.
"It was not an uncommon occurrence for you to be working on Reformers matters during your work hours in Mr Tudehope's office," Ms Curtin put to Mr Perrottet.
Mr Perrottet told the commission he was not sure whether Mr Tudehope was aware he was doing factional work while on shift, and said he doubted he had read a document outlining that political staffers were prohibited from doing party work while on the clock.
"I probably would've been aware in some notion that you shouldn't do factional work," Mr Perrottet said.
The commission heard Mr Perrottet had sent fellow Reformer Mr Ellis a text message in 2019 that read, "These c**** have just gone soft", referring to MPs being scared of an ICAC investigation if their staffers were found to be doing factional work.
Mr Perrottet said he did not recall sending the message.
Mr Perrottet left his job with Mr Tudehope in 2019.
He was quizzed on a 2020 text message he sent in which he expressed frustration he was not being paid for his work with the Reformers after leaving the role.
"You're frustrated because you say you left your job on the basis that you would get paid for doing Reformers work, yes," Ms Curtin put to Mr Perrottet.
"Sounds like it, yeah," Mr Perrottet said.
But Mr Perrottet denied he had left his job with Mr Tudehope on that basis alone: "This might just be me trying to have a crack at (Reformers) Christian (Ellis)," he said.
He later told the inquiry he "on occasion, maybe" paid for Liberal Party memberships for other people because of the pressure he felt in relation to the Reformers' branch-stacking work.
"That is an infrequent occurrence, in my view," he said.
Mr Tudehope earlier this week gave evidence at the ICAC inquiry that he leaked a confidential report about the alleged branch stacking and donation breaches to another one of the Reformers, Mr Greenwood.
On Wednesday, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said she would consider Mr Tudehope's future with her team once the inquiry ended.
"I spoke to Damien about that this morning, but the status remains that Damien is not in my shadow cabinet for the remainder of these hearings, and that's appropriate."
Mr Perrottet will return as a witness to the inquiry on Thursday.
Another Perrottet brother, Charles Perrottet, is also expected to appear as a witness.
Dominic Perrottet, who referred the allegations to ICAC in 2022, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Operation Rosny has been running for about four years, with the public inquiry scheduled to run for eight weeks.
