Fresh document shredding claims 'only known about' because of NSW premier's office staffer

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says had it not been for the evidence of an official in the NSW Premier's office, that revealed documents regarding controversial grants were shredded, no one would have ever known.

"It was the evidence of an official in Berejiklian's office, Sarah Lau last month, to a parliamentary committee, that revealed that these documents were shredded," Mr Clennell said.

"If she was not called, we would not know about this shredding. I'm reliably told Sarah Cruickshank, the premier's former chief of staff and now a senior bureaucrat in NSW ... was shocked at Ms Lau's evidence that these documents were shredded.

"So NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge today released the documents shredded by the premier's office concerning a $250 million Stronger Communities Fund after they were recovered using a forensic process after an order from the Upper House.

"What we don't have here is any handwritten notes from the Premier that she might have made on the documents but it clearly shows significant detail around meetings with councils et cetera – and how the 95 per cent of the $252 million went to Coalition seats.

"Now there has been a lot of focus on one grant in particular, Hornsby Council - $90 million – with the leader of the premier's faction, the moderates, Matt Kean, being the local member here and Philip Ruddock the Liberal Party president being the local mayor."

One of the shredded documents contained advice from Ms Berejiklian's former policy director Matt Crocker which stated the package would be spending more on delivering sports fields and facilities in Hornsby than for the rest of Sydney over four years.

"Well I can reveal that a senior official in the premier's office, Bran Black, visited Greens MP David Shoebridge and telephoned him on two occasions, seeking to convince him that it was not necessary to call Sarah Lau to give evidence to this committee before she appeared," Mr Clennell said.

"And here is Gladys Berejiklian saying today these grants, which only the Coalition knew about, were fair enough because pork-barrelling is not illegal."

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