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NSW Liberal leader defers decision on frontbencher Damien Tudehope after leak revelations at Icac

NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane has deferred any decision on Damien Tudehope's future until the conclusion of Icac's Operation Rosny, after he admitted to leaking a confidential draft parliamentary report. The inquiry is investigating allegations of illegal donations and branch stacking involving the Reformers, including Jean-Claude Perrottet.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 4 articles Version 1 Coverage Aug 4–6, 2026 Published Aug 14

NSW Liberal Leader Defers Decision on Tudehope Amid Icac Leak Revelations

The New South Wales Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, has said she will reserve any decision about the future of Damien Tudehope, the party's leader in the upper house, until the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) finishes its current inquiry. The move follows Tudehope's admission that he leaked a confidential draft parliamentary report to another party member.

Tudehope, who has stepped aside from his shadow cabinet roles during the inquiry, admitted to sending the draft report to Jeremy Greenwood, a member of the Reformers, a conservative group at the centre of Icac's Operation Rosny. The leak occurred in February 2023 and was revealed during Tudehope's evidence on Tuesday.

"Damien cooperated with the inquiry," Sloane told reporters on Wednesday. "He was thanked by the inquiry and he was released from his summons. The leaking of a report is never good. It's a standard that I don't accept."

Sloane said she would make a consideration once Icac proceedings have finalised. Tudehope is not named in any allegations and is not accused of wrongdoing, but his position has become increasingly untenable as the inquiry continues.

Icac's Operation Rosny

Operation Rosny is investigating whether members of the Reformers, including Jean-Claude Perrottet, the younger brother of former premier Dominic Perrottet, solicited or accepted illegal donations to recruit or renew members to the Liberal party. This practice, known as branch stacking, is not itself illegal.

Jean-Claude Perrottet appeared before Icac on Wednesday, having avoided summons to a previous parliamentary inquiry. Tudehope claimed on Tuesday that he had discussed with Dominic Perrottet that Jean-Claude was in Fiji during the 2023 parliamentary inquiry.

The inquiry has heard that the Reformers wanted more conservative policies on same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. Tudehope admitted to speaking at multiple Reformers recruitment events and defended his alignment with the group's aims.

Tudehope's Evidence

During his testimony, Tudehope acknowledged that Jean-Claude Perrottet had a "talent" for recruiting and renewing new members to the party, a skill he said was essential for any Liberal member looking to hold their seat at preselection.

"[Jean-Claude] had a fairly wide connection of friends, which he was able to marshal together and exploit. Which is well, I won't say exploit, but sort of get to do things for him," Tudehope said.

Tudehope also agreed he might have introduced Christian Ellis, another Reformer, to party figures, but denied encouraging illegal donations.

Political Fallout

The revelations come as the NSW government, led by Labor Premier Chris Minns, has faced criticism for its handling of several contentious issues. Minns initially said there would be "no gloating or taking political advantage" of the Icac hearings, but his government has since released key documents on issues including hate speech laws, which some have interpreted as an attempt to bury bad news amid the inquiry's publicity.

Sloane, who was not an MP at the time of the alleged wrongdoing, has sought to distance herself from the scandal while maintaining party discipline. The inquiry is expected to continue for several more weeks.

Perspectives

Kellie Sloane (NSW Liberal leader): "Damien cooperated with the inquiry... The leaking of a report is never good. It's a standard that I don't accept."
Chris Minns (NSW Premier): "There'll be no gloating or taking political advantage. It's an important process, and ultimately, hopefully, it makes all political parties cleaner."

How this outlet told it

The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Framing: Investigation into Liberal party branch stacking — Neutral

Facts Included:

Jean-Claude Perrottet appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (Icac) on Wednesday
Icac is investigating whether members of the so-called Reformers, including Jean-Claude Perrottet, solicited or accepted illegal donations for the recruitment or renewal of members to the Liberal party
The NSW shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, claimed on Tuesday that he had discussed with Dominic Perrottet that Jean-Claude was in Fiji during the 2023 inquiry
The state Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, on Wednesday said she would reserve any decision about Tudehope's future until the end of Icac's inquiry

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Framing: Tudehope gives evidence at Icac inquiry — Neutral

Facts Included:

Damien Tudehope gave evidence as part of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (Icac) Operation Rosny
Tudehope admitted to speaking at multiple Reformers recruitment events
The Reformers wanted more conservative policies on same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Aug 6, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

Framing: Government releases documents amid Icac inquiry — Critical

Facts Included:

The NSW government dropped key documents on not one but three contentious issues, burying them amid revelations that could damage the election hopes of state Liberal and opposition leader, Kellie Sloane
The premier, Chris Minns, took the high ground, saying there would be no gloating or taking political advantage, but later used the Icac inquiry to criticize the Liberals

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

Framing: Tudehope's email leak imperils his parliamentary career — Critical

Facts Included:

Damien Tudehope was shown an email which he sent in February 2023, attaching a leaked draft parliamentary report into branch stacking in the Hills area by the Reformers
Tudehope agreed he might have introduced Ellis to O'Hara, but denied he had encouraged illegal donations
The other major backer of the Reformers was Catholic Schools NSW and Tudehope has several connections to the organization

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimJean-Claude Perrottet appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (Icac) on Wednesday.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimIcac is investigating whether members of the so-called Reformers, including Jean-Claude Perrottet, solicited or accepted illegal donations for the recruitment or renewal of members to the Liberal party.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe NSW shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, claimed on Tuesday that he had discussed with Dominic Perrottet that Jean-Claude was in Fiji during the 2023 inquiry.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe state Liberal leader, Kellie Sloane, on Wednesday said she would reserve any decision about Tudehope's future until the end of Icac's inquiry.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe Reformers wanted more conservative policies on same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 5, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimDamien Tudehope gave evidence as part of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (Icac) Operation Rosny.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimTudehope admitted to speaking at multiple Reformers recruitment events.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe NSW government dropped key documents on not one but three contentious issues, burying them amid revelations that could damage the election hopes of state Liberal and opposition leader, Kellie Sloane.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 6, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC
ClaimThe premier, Chris Minns, took the high ground, saying there would be no gloating or taking political advantage, but later used the Icac inquiry to criticize the Liberals.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 6, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC
ClaimTudehope was shown an email which he sent in February 2023, attaching a leaked draft parliamentary report into branch stacking in the Hills area by the Reformers.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC
ClaimTudehope agreed he might have introduced Ellis to O'Hara, but denied he had encouraged illegal donations.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Aug 4, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 4 articles consulted: The Guardian — World 11 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-14