For the Illawarra, David Chandler was more than a Building Commissioner. In his six years in the role, until his departure in 2024, he became the face of a new regulatory regime that was prepared to look beneath the surface of buildings, and to stop projects when what it found was not good enough.
In Wollongong and Shell Cove, Chandler’s reputation was forged in the basements he calls the “indicator of a building’s DNA”. He helped turn one local project from what he described as a “shocker” into a benchmark, while his intervention at Crownview showed he was prepared to hit pause on a development when standards were not met. His promise to establish a permanent Wollongong base sent another message: the days when developers could finish a project, wind up a company and move on were becoming harder to sustain.
This week, ICAC’s Operation Rosny put the political consequences of that approach in the spotlight.
The inquiry heard evidence of an aggressive campaign to undermine Chandler, allegedly driven by political operatives seeking to protect the interests of Toplace developer Jean Nassif, who fled to Lebanon in December 2022 and remains the subject of an Australian arrest warrant over allegations of criminal fraud. Chandler himself told the Commission that Nassif had warned him during a 2021 confrontation over one of his projects: “Don’t you harm my project and if you harm my project, I’ll harm you.”
The evidence surrounding the campaign included meetings at Parliament House, the circulation of material intended to damage Chandler’s reputation and efforts to bring about his removal.
‘I don’t recall’
The Commission’s own description of Operation Rosny makes the significance clear: it is investigating whether donations connected to Nassif were made in exchange for outcomes including Chandler’s removal or preventing him from exercising his official functions in relation to Nassif’s developments.
Then came Anita Perrottet.
The wife of Charles Perrottet, she was questioned about more than $660,000 paid to her by companies linked to lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood - Beckington and JPG Advisory - for consultancy work, including advice she said she provided to Greenwood directly. That advice, she told the Commission, was mostly verbal and undocumented. The absence of a paper trail became a recurring feature of her evidence.
Mrs Perrottet repeatedly said she could not recall details of her company’s financial arrangements, while the Commission also examined communications and other material connecting her business to people (specifically her husband Charles) and interests under investigation. No wrongdoing has been proven against Mrs Perrottet, and all allegations remain the subject of ICAC’s examination.
Views as a whole, the week’s testimony revealed two layers of the same story. Chandler represents regulation made visible: inspections, prohibition orders, documented defects and a regulator willing to confront developers over what was happening inside their buildings. The evidence surrounding the Perrottets represents the unseen: consultancy payments, political relationships, verbal advice and communications whose significance is now being tested by ICAC.
Nassif to give evidence
Charles Perrottet entered the witness box for the first time on Friday, telling the Commission he maintained contact with Nassif and provided him with updates on Liberal Party affairs. He is expected to continue giving evidence into Week 6, with the Commission likely to examine his role in the relationships and political manoeuvring surrounding Chandler.
Lobbyist Greenwood is due to be recalled on Thursday and Friday, before perhaps the most significant witness of them all - Jean Nassif. He is expected to give evidence by video link on Friday.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Rosny. All individuals named are the subject of allegations being examined at a public inquiry.
Who said what on Week 5 of Operation Rosny
Christopher Spence
Balcony video leak: Admitted that in late May 2022, he met with Eleni Petinos’s chief of staff, Cassandra Lawry, on a parliamentary office balcony to show her the controversial site video of Building Commissioner David Chandler and made a highly regrettable “joke” suggesting that if she wanted a reason to get rid of Chandler, “there it is”.
Extortion package conduits: Acknowledged that Charles Perrottet repeatedly sent and resent him highly scandalous WhatsApp screenshots alleging a $500,000 extortion plot involving David Chandler, which Spence saved to his phone as a “package” alongside the site video to pass on to Minister Petinos’s office.
Cherrybrook proposal meetings: Struggled to explain why he arranged meetings in February and March 2022 with Charles Perrottet - who was then a private citizen working in Melbourne for BP - specifically titled “Spence - Cherrybrook” on Perrottet’s computer, which coincided with developer Jean Nassif’s major height-increase proposal near the Cherrybrook Metro station.
Media leak warning: Admitted Charles Perrottet phoned him in late June 2022 to warn him that the site video was about to be leaked to The Australian, prompting Spence to make a flurry of frantic, missed calls to Eleni Petinos and her staff to give them a “heads-up” before the story broke.
Anita Perrottet
Verbal greyhound consulting: Claimed her company, Macquarie Consulting, legitimately earned over $347,000 from private consultancies Beckington and JPG Advisory for “strategic and marketing advice” she verbally gave to Jeremy Greenwood regarding Greyhounds NSW, despite possessing absolutely no planning or public relations expertise and no written record of her work.
Sham travel expenses: Admitted that a series of business travel expenses she claimed in late 2021, including luxury stays at Sydney’s Darling Hotel and Chatswood’s Sebel Hotel, were likely recorded in “error” or as an “oversight” after forensic phone records placed her in Melbourne during those dates, while her husband Charles was actually in Sydney.
Disappearing message activation: Failed to explain why she turned on disappearing messages on her WhatsApp communications with lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood on August 10, 2020, which counsel noted was the exact day Greenwood began giving his highly anticipated evidence before the Commission.
Premiership leverage demands: Confronted with a series of highly compromising WhatsApp texts sent to her husband Charles the weekend his brother Dominic Perrottet became Premier, in which she proactively demanded that Charles secure “support with the Hills Council stuff” or threaten to disrupt a crucial party vote on Tuesday.
David Chandler
Defect inspection backlash: Testified that his rigorous regulatory inspections of Toplace developments, such as Pemberton on the Park in Botany and Skyview in Castle Hill, uncovered severe structural defects and water penetration issues, provoking extreme anger and personal abuse from developer Jean Nassif.
Skyview extortion threat: Recounted a dramatic April 2021 meeting with Toplace executives where they read him a letter claiming that if he wanted them to pay $5 million into a lawyer’s trust account, he would be “minded to lift” the prohibition order blocking their Skyview occupation certificate, which he immediately reported to the ICAC and Department Secretary Emma Hogan.
Targeted ousting campaign: Expressed his firm belief the leaking of a covert construction site video in June 2022, which recorded him discussing an “informal list” of bad certifiers, was part of a highly coordinated “ploy” by developer interests and factional operatives to force him to resign from office.
Misleading parliament exoneration: Confirmed a subsequent formal investigation by Department Secretary Emma Hogan completely cleared him of allegations that he had misled a parliamentary budget estimates committee, concluding that he had merely been “loose with his language” on the building site.
Charles Perrottet
Castle Hill obsession: Confessed to being “passionate” about returning the seat of Castle Hill to the Liberal Party’s right faction after his brother Dominic was “kicked out” of it in a 2015 redistribution, admitting he drafted press press releases and worked behind the scenes with Christian Ellis to manipulate local branch boundaries.
Premiership powerbroker role: Confronted with text messages proving that immediately after his brother Dominic Perrottet was announced as Premier in October 2021, Charles coordinated an urgent Tuesday night catch-up between the new Premier and Matt Kean to discuss “local government matters” under intense pressure from his wife Anita. (Matt Kean and Dominic Perrottet are not accused of any wrongdoing.)
The Central Coast alibi: Allegedly used Christopher Spence’s residency on the Central Coast as a geographic excuse to send him extortion screenshots involving David Chandler and a local law firm, asking if Spence “knew the company” despite Spence having no legal background or knowledge of the firm.
Lobbyist contract shares: Investigated by the Commission regarding allegations that he was promised a financial share of successful consulting “spoils” by lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood in exchange for using his political influence and family connections to advance developer Jean Nassif’s planning proposals.
The ICAC is investigating allegations concerning people associated with the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division), the CEO of Catholic Schools NSW Dallas McInerney, property developer Jean Nassif, hotelier Michael O’Hara, certain Strathfield councillors and others. To read the allegations in full, go to the dedicated ICAC Operation Rosny page
