‘Gross abuse of privilege’: Fugitive Liberal ICAC witness breaks his silence

A fugitive Liberal apparatchik has used his first public comments about a blockbuster anti-corruption inquiry to condemn a former party colleague who made serious allegations against him under parliamentary privilege, saying the accusations are a gross abuse of privilege and defamatory.

Christian Ellis, a staffer turned lobbyist who has spent the past few years living in England, which has enabled him to avoid appearing before the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption inquiry, delivered the broadside against Liberal backbencher Ray Williams in a five-page letter to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Greg Piper.

The letter is the first time Ellis has spoken publicly about the allegations first aired in June 2022. The inquiry previously heard evidence Ellis may have been spent weeks hiding in a forest behind his Deniliquin home in early 2023 to evade process servers attempting to issue a summons to appear at a parliamentary inquiry examining the allegations. He then moved to the UK with his family in early 2026 despite the ICAC’s efforts to secure his evidence.

In his citizen’s right of reply, Ellis said Williams falsely accused him of corrupting a Hills Shire Council preselection process to install councillors favourable to Jean Nassif, a developer who fled to Lebanon in 2022 owing investors more than $1 billion and leaving a trail of serious defects.

Williams was required to “explain the basis” for his allegations, or substantiate his claims with evidence, Ellis wrote, something he said the veteran MP had not done “because there was no evidence”. Ellis noted Toplace pursued a state-led planning process for the development in question, meaning Hills Shire Council was not involved in the approval.

He also said the ICAC had investigated Williams claim and found “no evidence” that the candidates endorsed by the Liberal Party were chosen because they would be favourable to Nassif’s interests.

He asked for the ICAC’s evidence to be inserted into Hansard alongside Williams’ allegations.

“I have not responded to Mr Williams’ allegations until now because I believe a private citizen should not be expected to answer any charge unless it is brought with evidence and in a proper forum. My silence should not be taken as an admission,” he said.

“I am responding now because Mr Williams has again, as he approaches retirement, described his speech as an act of courage that brought impropriety to light. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, it was a gross abuse of the privileges afford to him as a parliamentarian.”

When asked for a response, Williams questioned why Ellis had avoided providing evidence if he was innocent.

“Why didn’t he show up to the parliamentary inquiry or ICAC if that’s the case? If he’s innocent come home and put the record straight,” Williams said.

Ellis, who served as a staffer to now Nationals leader Matt Canavan and NSW Liberal minister Damien Tudehope, said Williams had not repeated the allegation without the immunity of parliamentary privilege because “he knows his speech was defamatory”.

“This speaks volume to his character,” he wrote.

Williams’ characterisations of himself as a “whistleblower” were rejected by Ellis, who claimed the initial allegations were made for “political purposes”.

“I do not accept that description. A whistleblower is a person that [sic] exposes wrongdoing because it is the right thing to do. A whistleblower has evidence. None of these things can be said about Mr Williams,” he wrote.

Ellis was expelled by the Liberal Party in August 2023. At the Operation Rosny inquiry, presiding commissioner Fabian Gleeson, SC, made several references to Ellis being invited to appear.

The inquiry heard Ellis had been following proceedings from the UK.

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Max Maddison is a state political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.