Leaks, lies and Liberals: The closing minutes of Damien Tudehope’s ICAC evidence were a disaster

August 5, 2026 — 5:00am

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It was legendary journalist Alan Reid who coined the term “faceless men” to describe the 36 operatives who controlled the Australian Labor Party in 1963. Kevin Rudd then reintroduced the term to popular culture to label little-known powerbrokers plotting to dump him as prime minister.

If the NSW Liberal Party has its own faceless men, one is surely Damien Tudehope, the MP questioned by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday over his close associations with six people at the heart of its latest inquiry. His appearance did not go well.

After a slow start earlier in the day, the dramatic closing hour of the hearing saw Tudehope confess to leaking a confidential parliamentary inquiry report into the links between Liberal Party figures and fugitive developer Jean Nassif. Tudehope sent the report to lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood, one of the key subjects of the 2023 parliamentary probe, well before the public got to see it.

“I thought he would have had an interest in that report,” Tudehope reluctantly explained. He had only moments earlier denied ever obtaining the draft document.

ICAC Operation Rosny as it happened: Tudehope leaked confidential report to inquiry target, knew key witness was hiding in Fiji

The hearing also revealed the hard-right factional heavyweight knew his close friend, who was a prohibited donor, was likely to give money to a branch-stacking operation co-ordinated by a group known as the Reformers, but argued his genuine view was the cash did not count as a donation.

While well known on Macquarie Street, Tudehope is hardly a household name. The Liberal elder........

© The Sydney Morning Herald