Catholic Schools NSW Chief Denies "Sham" Payment Allegation at NSW Corruption Hearing
Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney told the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on 14 August 2026 that payments his organisation made to a lobbying firm were not a "sham arrangement" designed to funnel money toward NSW Liberal Party factional activity. His testimony directly contests the corruption watchdog's central allegation.
ICAC is a state government body that investigates corruption among public officials and public-sector organisations. The current investigation, called Operation Rosny, is examining whether McInerney arranged and approved illegal donations from Catholic Schools NSW to support alleged "branch stacking" — a practice where people are recruited to join a political party to sway internal votes — by a Christian factional group within the NSW Liberal Party called the Reformers. The public inquiry opened on 27 July 2026, with the commission's opening address delivered the following day. ICAC is investigating whether McInerney, Christian Ellis, Jeremy Greenwood, and Robert Assaf engaged in conduct involving possible offences under the Electoral Funding Act (ICAC).
The sums under scrutiny are substantial. Catholic Schools NSW paid Beckington — a lobbying company run by Ellis and Greenwood — $130,900 through invoices for consulting services between August 2019 and August 2021. After that arrangement ended, Greenwood's company JPG Advisory received $135,000 from Catholic Schools NSW between December 2021 and December 2023. ICAC heard evidence that up to $265,000 in Catholic Schools NSW funding may have been diverted to the Reformers (The Educator).
The commission also heard that Reformers Robert Assaf and Dylan Whitelaw spent work hours on factional efforts while employed at Catholic Schools NSW. In February 2021 messages disclosed to the inquiry, Jean-Claude Perrottet — younger brother of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet — wrote to Assaf: "Ellis and I caught up with Dallas in Bowral to discuss money, had a long convo." Counsel assisting Juliet Curtin pressed McInerney on whether Assaf and Jean-Claude Perrottet understood the arrangement was a sham under which Beckington money would flow to them. McInerney said he could not recall the Bowral meeting and rejected earlier evidence from Assaf that Greenwood and McInerney had met this year to discuss their summons (The Guardian).
The previous day, 13 August, McInerney denied ever asking the federal opposition leader for money for Liberal Party power brokers (The Guardian). ICAC is also investigating whether people linked to the Reformers solicited money from prohibited donors and disguised the donations (ABC).
The funding structure of Catholic Schools NSW gives the allegations particular weight. Approximately 80% of the funding the organisation distributes comes from state and federal governments, with government funding totalling about $3.8 billion in 2024. McInerney stood aside from his CEO role before the ICAC hearings began.
The Independent Education Union's NSW/ACT branch has seized on the inquiry to call for tighter oversight. IEU branch secretary Carol Matthews said close scrutiny of public funding was not applied to organisations such as Catholic Schools NSW that receive funding on behalf of Catholic diocesan schools. The union said it was deeply concerned by allegations that public funding for Catholic schools may have been wrongfully spent on Liberal Party matters (The Guardian).
NSW premier Chris Minns has ruled out an independent audit of Catholic Schools NSW while the ICAC inquiry is under way, a decision that leaves the corruption watchdog as the sole immediate mechanism for examining whether public funds were misdirected. As of ICAC's current-investigations listing, the hearing in the Operation Rosny public inquiry has concluded.
The broader context here extends beyond the specific individuals under investigation. The Reformers faction, anchored in the party's Christian conservative wing, has been a significant force in NSW Liberal internal politics. The allegations before ICAC sit at the intersection of factional machinery, regulated electoral funding, and the governance of publicly subsidised non-government education. If ICAC finds that Catholic Schools NSW payments were channelled into factional work, the implications would reach into the accountability frameworks governing how billions in public money are disbursed to non-government education providers, and whether the conditions attached to that funding are enforceable in practice.
For McInerney, the stakes are personal and institutional. His rejection of the "sham" characterisation places his testimony in direct conflict with the narrative ICAC's counsel assisting has been constructing. The competing accounts from Assaf and McInerney on key meetings and communications will require the Commission to weigh credibility against documentary evidence. ICAC's findings, when delivered, could reshape expectations around transparency for sector bodies that act as conduits for public money.
