This premier was felled by ICAC. Now he is defending it and criticising his own party

Former premier Barry O’Farrell, whose political career was spectacularly cut short by the corruption watchdog, has taken an extraordinary swipe at his Liberal colleagues, warning they should be supporting, not blocking, the integrity agency.

The NSW Liberals joined the Greens late last week to block expanded powers that would allow the Independent Commission Against Corruption to use unlawful recordings of private conversations made by others.

The ICAC has not revealed why it needs the powers, but the request was made during its long-running investigation into fugitive Sydney property developer Jean Nassif’s links to Liberal Party figures.

O’Farrell, who sensationally resigned as premier in 2014 after admitting to a “significant memory fail” over an undeclared bottle of Grange, slammed his colleagues for standing in the way of the ICAC.

“The opposition’s decision is wrong in so many ways,” O’Farrell said.

“ICAC’s an important body – established by the NSW Coalition – which should be supported in tackling corruption in NSW. In my experience, ICAC requests have been carefully considered and focused to fulfil its statutory obligations.

“My only concern about ICAC was the time it took to determine the outcome of investigations. To his credit, the current ICAC commissioner has successfully tackled that problem.”

The ICAC sought, and was granted, special powers in 2023 that temporarily exempted it from restrictions on possessing and using unlawful recordings of private conversations made by others.

The Minns government introduced a bill last year to make those powers permanent, but it was blocked in the upper house on Thursday after the Coalition and the Greens voted against it.

The ICAC’s initial request raised the prospect that secret recordings would feature in a future public inquiry into alleged dealings between Nassif and members of the Liberal Party. That inquiry has yet to be announced.

Greens justice spokesperson Sue Higginson said the party was “very supportive of a strong ICAC” but Labor’s proposed laws would “pose challenges to the courts and the justice system at large”.

“We asked the government to work with us and others to make sure the changes to the Surveillance Devices Act were proportionate and targeted. They refused and instead pushed bad overreaching laws against sensible amendments, destroying their own bill. It was frankly bizarre to watch.”

Nassif’s construction company, Toplace, which he ran before fleeing to Lebanon as his empire collapsed in December 2022, owes creditors billions. An arrest warrant was issued for Nassif in June 2023 over an alleged bank fraud.

In 2022, NSW Liberal MP Ray Williams made extraordinary claims in parliament that he had heard allegations that senior members of his party had been “paid significant funds in order to arrange to put new councillors on The Hills Shire Council” who would support future development applications for Nassif’s company.

Williams’ claims prompted a parliamentary inquiry weeks before the 2023 state election, which investigated alleged links between Liberal councillors on Hills Shire Council and Nassif. The inquiry delivered a scathing report after key witnesses refused to front the hearings.

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