A lobbyist being investigated by the state’s corruption watchdog has admitted ordering the creation of a “shit sheet” targeting a Liberal cabinet minister and says he knew the document contained false claims the politician was having an affair.
Jeremy Greenwood described the dossier as a “defensive move” and claimed he was entitled to attack then-police minister David Elliott because there had been “relentless leaks to the media” about himself and his business partner, Christian Ellis.
The document is a key element of the ICAC’s investigation into allegations Greenwood and other members of a sub-faction of Christian conservatives known as the Reformers were doing the bidding of fugitive developer Jean Nassif, who loathed Elliott and his criticism of substandard Toplace building projects.
Elliott’s membership of the Liberal Party’s centre-right faction also put him in fierce competition with the Reformers, who sat on the hard right of the party.
The dirt file contained an allegation Elliott was having an affair – something Greenwood admitted on Tuesday he knew was false at the time he was given the document.
“I’m allowed to defend myself if I’m having a similar shit sheet about me thrown around,” Greenwood told the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday.
A stunned Commissioner Fabian Gleeson, SC, asked the lobbyist and former political staffer: “You mean to suggest … that it’s perfectly proper behaviour by a lobbyist to prepare a document which you call a shit...
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