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‘Warring kingdoms’: cofounder of religious Reformers compares NSW Liberal party factionalism to Braveheart

The Guardian World Thursday 30 July 2026, 05:03 UTC By Penry Buckley and Jack Larkin 1 min read
Key Points

Robert Assaf tells Icac that Angus Taylor wasn’t ‘that involved’ but the federal opposition leader ‘definitely wasn’t opposed’ to work of conservative groupA member of a group of young conservative Liberal power brokers being investigated for allegedly soliciting illegal donations has compared their factional work to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – and said they “didn’t think the law applied to us” when it came to political funding. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday...

Robert Assaf tells Icac that Angus Taylor wasn’t ‘that involved’ but the federal opposition leader ‘definitely wasn’t opposed’ to work of conservative group

A member of a group of young conservative Liberal power brokers being investigated for allegedly soliciting illegal donations has compared their factional work to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – and said they “didn’t think the law applied to us” when it came to political funding.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Thursday heard from Robert Assaf, the first witness from the conservative right Liberal factional group the Reformers to give evidence.

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Reformers (ORG) NSW Liberal party (ORG) Braveheart Robert Assaf (PERSON) Angus Taylor (PERSON) Mel Gibson’s (PERSON) Braveheart (PERSON) The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ORG) Robert Assaf (PERSON)
Originally published by The Guardian World Read original →

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