After the opening days of an inquiry exposing a dark underbelly of the New South Wales Liberals, the prevailing mood among Angus Taylor’s colleagues is one of apprehension.
The federal opposition leader is not a specific target of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations of corruption against people associated with the NSW branch. He is not accused of wrongdoing.
But Taylor is the highest-profile person mentioned so far – and the political figure with the most to lose.
To briefly recap, the opposition leader was on Tuesday named as a potential donor to the Reformers, a group of hard-right Liberal operatives plotting to take over the party from the inside.
The inquiry heard that a screenshot of a message from Dallas McInerney, then the chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, was sent to Reformers members in which McInerney said he planned to “shake down Angus for 10k” during a breakfast meeting in Canberra.
The message was allegedly sent in March 2021 when Taylor was energy minister in the Morrison government.
Dylan Whitelaw, another Reformers associate who gave evidence on Tuesday and Wednesday, was read a later intercepted text message in which he claimed McInerney had told him he had secured a commitment from Taylor for a “15k injection and a 3k monthly donation!”
Whitelaw couldn’t recall sending the message and told the inquiry he would be “very surprised” if Taylor made any contribution.
After initially declining to refute the allegations, Taylor told a press conference on Wednesday that “no payment was made”.
“I’m not going to give a running commentary on all of this. I’m not a party to the proceedings, but no payment was made,” Taylor said.
If that response was supposed to put the matter to bed – and reassure his colleagues – it didn’t work.
On Thursday, Taylor was asked again about any potential donations during a press conference in Logan, Queensland.
“I’ve answered these questions yesterday. I’m not going to give a running commentary on it,” Taylor said.
“You can ask the question 100 times,” he repeated. “I’ll give you the same answer.”
Guardian Australia spoke with several Liberals on condition of anonymity, who believed Taylor must provide a more comprehensive answer, if indeed he had no role in bankrolling Reformers’ operations.
Unsurprisingly, the Labor treasurer, Jim Chalmers, expressed the same view.
“You know, I don’t want to interfere with the Icac process that his political allies are involved in at the moment … but there are a number of questions to be answered here, and he should front up and explain any involvement he’s had in this,” Chalmers said.
There were further questions for the opposition leader after Whitelaw was asked at Wednesday’s hearing if the $3,000 monthly payments that Taylor had allegedly agreed to were connected to a similar amount that Catholic Schools NSW was paying to the Reformers-linked lobbying firm Beckington.
There is no evidence that Taylor donated to the Reformers – only text messages suggesting payments would be sought or had been received.
He has not yet clarified what involvement – or even knowledge – he had of the Reformers and their alleged branch-stacking operation.
At Thursday’s hearing, Reformers witness Robert Assaf wasn’t sure what Taylor knew of their work but said he “definitely wasn’t opposed”.
Among the troves of text messages released by Icac is one from Whitelaw in which he told Reformers that “Angus Taylor is locked-in” for an event in Goulburn in September 2020.
An “Angus” is mentioned in several other text messages although the context is unclear.
There are, at this stage, more questions than answers. But the evidence so far has been enough to cause anxiety among his colleagues because of Taylor’s close ties to McInerney.
The pair are friends and factional allies. McInerney, one of the most powerful backroom operators in the NSW Liberal right faction, has helped Taylor with campaigns and was influential in his overthrowing of Sussan Ley.
The deeper Icac delves into McInerney’s dealings the more dangerous the inquiry becomes for Taylor, whose leadership is already tenuous given the Coalition’s dire position in the polls.
Liberals are surprised Taylor has not been quicker to distance himself from McInerney, who stepped down from Catholic Schools NSW after the inquiry was announced.
The opening days of evidence have elicited another emotion among Taylor’s factional enemies in NSW: anger.
The Reformers’ recruitment drives targeted, among others, branches in the federal seats of Berowra, Lindsay and Farrer, with the aim of dislodging Julian Leeser, Melissa McIntosh and Sussan Ley respectively.
McIntosh and Ley were only saved after an intervention from then prime minister Scott Morrison ahead of the 2022 federal election.
The notion that Taylor might have been supporting the plotters – potentially even financially – would amount to a level of treason well beyond what’s tolerated in the messy blood sport of factional politics.
The inquiry has more than seven weeks of hearings to go. Taylor might not be a target of Icac but he’s unlikely to emerge completely unscathed.