But the suppression order was lifted on Monday after the speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, advised the commission that no claim for privilege would be made. Tony Abbott tours the Sydney plant of Brickworks with its managing director, Liberal donor Lindsay Partridge, in September 2011. Credit:Brendan Esposito The emails reveal that, in March 2011, while the Coalition was in opposition, Ms Credlin used a major donor to the Liberal Party, Brickworks, as part of Tony Abbott's campaign against the carbon tax. Ms Credlin, the chief of staff to Mr Abbott, is married to Brian Loughnane, the party's federal director. Brickworks was one of the largest corporate donors to the Liberal Party, giving $384,000 in a nine-month period from July 2010 to April 2011.

As well as its brand Austral Bricks, Brickworks also lists property development as a core business. Email chain ... Tony Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin The ICAC has heard that Brickworks used the Free Enterprise Foundation, a shadowy Canberra-based organisation, to channel $125,000 in illicit donations to the NSW Liberals for the March 2011 state election. Since 2009, property developers have been banned from donating to NSW political parties, but it is legal for such donations to go to federal parties. One of the previously suppressed emails reveals that, on March 1, 2011, Mr Nicolaou sent Ms Credlin an email titled "Re Carbon Tax" advising that Brickworks was "a very good supporter of the Party."

Mr Nicolaou attached an earlier message from the company's managing director, Lindsay Partridge, which read: "Paul, Tell Tony to stick to his guns on no carbon tax. I am running an internal fight with the BCA [Business Council of Australia] who seem to be driven by a few companies who will make bundles out of the tax." Ms Credlin replied enthusiastically to Mr Nicolaou's request. "Lindsay provided a great line for Question Time. Do you have a number that I might be able to contact him on and see if he was happy for us to use it … " she said. Mr Partridge, who was in France, copied Ms Credlin into an email he sent to Mr Nicolaou in reply and provided further ammunition for use in Question Time.

Two months later, on May 2, 2011, Mr Abbott, the then opposition leader, visited the Austral Bricks factory in Melbourne, which he proclaimed was "one of the most efficient plants in the world". He claimed a carbon tax would cause a 10 per cent rise in costs at Brickworks, which would be passed on to consumers. On September 1, 2011, Mr Abbott was photographed with Mr Partridge, this time at the Austral Bricks site at Horsley Park in western Sydney, again claiming how much the tax would affect the cost of bricks. On September 14, Mr Abbott told federal parliament that the carbon tax would add $2 million a year to Austral Bricks' costs. Between March and September, other members of the Liberal Opposition referred to Brickworks in parliament, including the then finance spokesman Mathias Cormann and Paul Fletcher, the member for the northern Sydney seat of Bradfield.

"What have people in the manufacturing sector to say about this carbon tax?" Mr Fletcher said on September 19. "Mr Lindsay Partridge, the managing director of Brickworks, had this to say: 'The end result will be an exodus of manufacturing industries and investment offshore, jobs will be lost, the cost of housing will increase and there will be no change to carbon emissions.' " The emails, which were briefly made public last week, were quickly removed after Arnold Bloch, the law firm acting for Senator Sinodinos, raised concerns about parliamentary privilege. Ms Credlin has told the Speaker's office in a letter that she has no objection to her email correspondence being released. Coincidentally, Mrs Bishop was also referred to in the same volume of exhibits.

She was a director of the Dame Pattie Menzies Foundation Trust, which received $11,000 from the Free Enterprise Foundation on December 9, 2010, which it then directed to the NSW branch of the party for use in the 2011 state election. The previous day, Mr Partridge sent a cheque for $125,000 to the Free Enterprise Foundation with a note that read: "We trust this donation will provide assistance with the 2011 NSW State election campaign." In July 2010, Mr Nicolaou, who was getting a 6 per cent cut of all donations he collected, emailed Simon McInnes, the finance director of the NSW Liberal Party boasting: "Please note! Another $50k for us via Free Enterprise Foundation from Brickworks." Only a minute earlier, Mr Partridge had sent an email saying: "Paul, via the diversionary organisation there is $50k for NSW, $250k in total." Three days earlier, Mr Nicolaou had invited Mr Partridge to a "very private dinner" with Mr Abbott and 10 senior business leaders at the Hunters Hill home of Dick Honan, the chairman of the Manildra Group. The cost was $5000 per person.

Mr Partridge replied, "Send me the details, will I get a photo with Tony like I got from John Howard?" The Brickworks managing director also said, "I will be wanting to talk about my employees on AWAs [Australian Workplace Agreements] who are now stuck an [sic] and don't want to be re-unionised." Although the event was cancelled, it did not stop Mr Partridge from sending off his $250,000 donation to the party. Mr Nicolaou also shared the good news of Brickworks' donation with Mr Loughnane, as well as Senator Sinodinos, then treasurer of the NSW Liberal Party, who will give evidence on Friday. Another Brickworks director, Robert Webster, was on the NSW Liberals' finance committee.

He has told the ICAC he was not involved in the company making the $125,000 donation to the state branch of the party before the last election. Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said: "We have claims that one of the Liberal Party biggest donors is virtually writing Tony Abbott's question time strategy.This is cash for questions. "This is the same donor which has given more than $1 million to the Federal Liberal Party since 1998, in addition to the $330,000 it donated to the Free Enterprise Foundation." Loading Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon urged the government to implement "far-reaching electoral funding reform".

"The Greens are ready to work with the PM and all parties for reforms that cover a federal ban on corporate donations and federal laws uniform with what has been achieved in NSW," she said.