Catholic schools rort was a ‘running joke’. You won’t hear parents or taxpayers laughing

July 28, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Taxpayers and parents of the 270,000 students in Catholic schools across NSW all have good cause to be disgusted by the evidence of financial abuse and breathtaking entitlement aired during a major corruption inquiry on Tuesday. They also have a right to demand answers.

The church has been in the crouch position ever since the Independent Commission Against Corruption revealed this month that Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney was being investigated as part of a broader probe into the NSW Liberal Party’s relationship with fugitive developer Jean Nassif.

McInerney, a Liberal powerbroker and favourite ideological son of conservative Archbishop Anthony Fisher, has ruled the governing body for 600 diocesan Catholic schools for nearly a decade, often achieving significant results for the sector.

But we now know, from evidence given at the inquiry, he was also allegedly using this position – and the charity’s hefty budget – to hire Liberal operatives who would then use huge chunks of their time in the office working on a scheme to stack branches across Sydney with more conservative members.

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One such apparatchik, Dylan Whitelaw, was hired straight out of school, no........

© The Sydney Morning Herald