Lib kingmaker helped NSW MP oust councillors in preselection battle: ICAC

Liberal party powerbroker Joseph Tannous has told ICAC he and NSW MP John Sidoti helped to remove preselection from councillors who subsequently lost their positions.

A Liberal kingmaker said he and NSW MP John Sidoti tinkered with preselection in a way the anti corruption watchdog has heard ousted councillors who defied the MPs planning wishlist.

Joseph Tannous, a lobbyist and long-time senior Liberal member, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption he and Sidoti formed an “alternate ticket” at the 2017 local government elections.

That ticket effectively saw then-Mayor Helen McCaffrey lose her position along with two other councillors who voted against Sidoti’s alleged planning wishes for his family property at Five Dock.

Sidoti denies all wrongdoing.

Liberal MP John Sidoti arrives at his ICAC hearing. Picture: John Grainger

The ICAC heard Sidoti’s junior staffer and political unknown, Stephanie Di Pasqua, secured a more favourable spot on the Liberal party ticket than the long-serving Ms McCaffrey as a result of Mr Tannous’ work.

Ms Pasqua remains a councillor and, earlier on Monday, told the ICAC she had filed a formal challenge against Ms McCaffrey who had incorrectly filled out her nomination form.

Mr Tannous said it was a “democratic process” and pointed to Ms McCaffrey’s own errors when asked about his role in creating the alternate ticket.

“Are you serious?” Counsel Assisting the Commission Rob Ranken asked, exasperated.

He suggested Mr Tannous had been acting against then Mayor McCaffrey’s interest.

“(Ms McCaffrey) made the mistake and Ms Di Pasqua was entitled to put the challenge in,” Mr Tannous said.

The ICAC heard Mr Tannous ran John Sidoti’s campaigns as Sidoti rose through the party to become a NSW MP.

The ICAC is investigating whether Sidoti used his power as an MP to influence, coerce or threaten councillors in Canada Bay Council who were overseeing planning decisions.

The watchdog is trying to find out if Sidoti followed through on his alleged threats and pulled strings within the Liberal party to undermine councillors who did not help his alleged property dreams.

Mr Tannous said there was an informal agreement between himself and Sidoti to contact Liberal preselectors to create the alternate ticket knowing it would disadvantage certain councillors.

Mr Tannous said he has “memory fog, fatigue and shortness of breath” after he was infected with COVID-19 and placed in an induced coma for 11 days.

It had been reported at the time Mr Tannous may have contracted the virus from a fundraiser where he mingled with Federal Minister Peter Dutton, who also had the virus, in March 2020.