#parramatta — Public Fediverse posts

@gnoll110 @vandenberglegs @ajsadauskas More shenanigans at ICAC (the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption).

This time, it called up Anita Perrottet, who's the wife of Charles Perrottet, and the sister-in-law of former NSW State Premier Dominic Perrottet. (For anyone reading this outside Australia, a premier is our equivalent of an American state governor.)

Charles was allegedly one of the recipients of $2 million in bribes from failed property developer Jean Nassif.

Again, at this stage, I think Dominic should be called to explain what he knew abd when ge knew it.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

"[Anita Perrottet's] evidence was so thoroughly unconvincing, and the corruption watchdog’s case against her so comprehensive, that it was tempting for a brief moment to feel sorry for the mother of two.

"However, the sheer volume of implausible claims uttered while twisting and contorting her way through a two-day appearance ultimately made it difficult to have much sympathy.
...
"She was paid $660,999 between July 2020 and December 2022 – a figure almost exactly one-third of the $2 million bribe that Nassif is alleged to have agreed to pay her husband and two other Liberal Party operatives.

"There is no written record of any work Anita did to warrant the payments. She repeatedly insisted that she was paid such a huge amount to be a “sounding board”.
...
"Anita Perrottet is no fool. She has a degree in marketing and communications from the University of Canberra. She has worked at global asset management company Fidelity International, the so-called “millionaire’s factory” Macquarie Bank, investment firm Magellan Financial Group, and funds giant Australian Unity. Perrottet agreed with Dwyer’s assessment this week that she was a “pretty astute businesswoman”.
...
"If her version of events is to be believed, Perrottet’s marketing knowledge is so good that she earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for nothing other than giving verbal advice to Jeremy Greenwood, a close friend of her family and the owner of two lobbying firms named Beckington and JPG Advisory.

"Greenwood, Charles Perrottet and Liberal operative Christian Ellis are the three men the ICAC alleges were to be the recipients of the $2 million Nassif bribe.
...
"It is not disputed that Beckington and JPG Advisory paid Perrottet the $660,999 in various invoices over 2½ years. She also concedes there is not one scrap of written evidence that she actually did any work.

"Pressed on what sort of advice she gave, Perrottet said that Greenwood at one point sought her counsel on behalf of a vaping client. Who was the client? She didn’t know. Did she do any research? No, but she did read news articles that had popped up on her social media feeds.

"What strategic advice did she provide in relation to the black market for vaping? “That there needed to be better regulation.” What did that advice include? “Like, you know, minors shouldn’t be able to be buying vapes, essentially.” For good measure, she also apparently advised Greenwood that kids would vape less if fun flavours were banned."
...
"But the problems with her evidence didn’t end there. On Friday, she said she knew tax deductions listed by her business could only be made for legitimate business purposes. She said she would have only claimed travel for meetings she had held in Sydney with Greenwood.

"But she was soon presented with evidence that her husband had actually undertaken the regular travel to Sydney while she stayed at home in Melbourne. During the travel, Charles met with Nassif. Whoops, that must have been an error, Anita explained."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/stop-stop-she-s-already-dead-how-the-icac-nailed-anita-perrottet-s-absurd-excuses-20260828-p60sj7.html

#auspol #nswpol #politics #news #capitalism #Sydney #Parramatta #NSW #Australia

Probably not ideal to have the boss of a new museum stand down 72 days before it opens, due to an investigation into "governance and procurement practices":

"The opening of the billion-dollar Powerhouse Parramatta has been plunged into controversy after its chief executive stepped down 72 days before the opening of the state’s biggest cultural infrastructure investment since the Sydney Opera House.

"In a shock development, staff were alerted on Thursday afternoon that Lisa Havilah had stood aside from her role of seven years pending completion of a departmental investigation into “governance and procurement practices”. Only five days earlier, the museum had announced its first five exhibitions for the November 7 opening to much fanfare."

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/powerhouse-parramatta-chief-lisa-havilah-departs-just-weeks-from-opening-20260827-p60s1t.html

#parramatta #NSW #Australia #Powerhouse #auspol #nswpol