The former opposition leader, the alleged branch stacking and the silent nuns

An order of silent Carmelite nuns living a life of “solitude and poverty” in rural NSW became unwitting targets of an elaborate NSW Liberal branch-stacking scheme run by a key figure at the centre of an explosive corruption hearing. When NSW Liberal operative Christian Ellis, 34, moved to Deniliquin and allegedly embarked on a push to stack branches to unseat the former opposition leader Sussan Ley in Farrer, the one-time political staffer found the perfect party members in the Carmel of Elijah nuns. On a rural property between the tiny Riverina town of Mathoura and Deniliquin is the monastery home to the Carmelite nuns who largely live their lives in silence.

Multiple Liberal Party sources have said nuns from the monastery were allegedly signed up as party members as part of Ellis’ efforts to take over the region’s branches. A spokesman for the party said: “The NSW Liberal Party does not have such membership records. The party does not ask members, or prospective members, about their faith, religious or ethnic background or employment.”

The Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, which takes in the Carmelite Monastery of contemplative nuns, could not be reached for comment. However, on Saturday the diocese released a statement that said, “the Carmelite nuns have no participation in local political parties and have never done so”. The vicar general Arthur Givney said the diocese investigated claims that the nuns were signed up as Liberal members in March 2023 but the allegations “had no basis in fact”.

“Implications that the Carmelite Nuns in Mathoura are either intentionally involved in political plotting or are naïve victims are highly disrespectful of good women who have freely committed to a life of silence and sacrifice, in prayer for the church and the world,” Givney said. Ellis is now one of 10 persons of interest before the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which will start its public inquiry, code-named Operation Rosny, on Monday. It will probe fugitive property developer Jean Nassif’s links to Liberal party powerbrokers and councils.

Catholic Schools NSW, the governing body for 600 diocesan schools, is also embroiled in the inquiry. Ellis, who once served on the party’s state executive, is alleged to have met Nassif to discuss a possible branch-stacking operation to replace sitting members of The Hills Shire Council with new members who would be favourable to his development applications. Deniliquin, with its population of just over 7000, is in the Riverina area, a seven-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney.

In early 2020, Ellis’s wife Cecile Piat purchased a cottage in the village of Mathoura, not far from the Carmelite monastery, for $360,000. The following year, the couple spent $662,500 buying a house on 20 hectares of land on Flanagans Lane, outside Deniliquin. Towards the end of 2021 they offloaded the cottage for $500,000, making a $140,000 gain in just over a year.

Having established themselves in “Deni”, as the locals refer to the town, Ellis set about stacking the branches to replace Ley, then deputy Liberal leader, who had held the seat of Farrer since 2001. Former Liberal Party stalwart and Edward River councillor Shirlee Burge, a long-time member of the Deniliquin branch, detailed a flurry of unusual membership growth after Ellis moved to the area when she provided evidence to a 2023 parliamentary inquiry into branch stacking in the Hills Shire council area. Burge told that inquiry that “Christian Ellis moved into our area flashing a bit of cash and purchasing properties”.

“The general feeling is that he moved into the area to take control of the branch,” Burge told the inquiry. The councillor said when she had joined the Liberal Party 15 years earlier, there were 21 members. “That dropped to about 11 in 2019.

In 2020-21, when we were in COVID recess, we began to see an unusual influx of new members,” Burge told the inquiry. “We were not holding meetings so these applicants received automatic membership, as per party rules, so they weren’t vetted or voted on. It is my belief that most of these new members are what are known as water warriors [water buyback activists], or they belong to a certain religious order.”

In February 2023, the NSW parliament tried to serve Ellis with a summons to front an inquiry into his previous efforts to branch stack in the Hills area of Sydney. The inquiry heard that a process server travelled to the Ellis’ house in Deniliquin. Despite the lights being on and voices being heard, the occupants refused to come to the door.

When the agent returned to the house a few days later, Ellis’ wife, holding a baby, answered the door. When asked if she knew when Ellis would be home or how to contact him, Piat replied, “No, I don’t know his movements. I do not know where he is.

I am sorry but I cannot help you.” According to the report to parliament, Piat appeared to be “nervous and evasive” in her answers. Burge, meanwhile, told the inquiry that she believed Ellis had been