Lobbyist and Liberal powerbroker Michael Photios caught up in Australian Water saga Michael Photios. CONTROVERSIAL lobbyist and Liberal powerbroker Michael Photios has become the latest player involved in the Australian Water saga with The Daily Telegraph able to reveal he was hired by Liberal Party donor Nick Di Girolamo to help get his Australian Water contract up. Mr Photios yesterday confirmed his firm PremierState did work for Mr Di Girolamo in 2011 - while Mr Di Girolamo was hoping to win the contract to continue to project manage water infrastructure in the Rouse Hill area - but said it was "strategic advice," not lobbying. Mr Photios went as far as to say that Mr Di Girolamo doesn't need a lobbyist because he is so "well connected" in Liberal government circles. We were engaged by them to give strategic advice. At no stage did we lobby for them," Mr Photios said. Australian Water already had its own connections. They were extremely well connected with the government and had no need whatsoever for (lobbyists). Mr Photios's role as a lobbyist is controversial as he sits on the state executive of the Liberal Party and is a major powerbroker in the Liberal moderate faction, which has helped some MPs into parliament. It has also been revealed his firm was meeting virtually every month with former finance minister Greg Pearce's office. The Daily Telegraph revealed last week that Premier Barry O'Farrell and Mr Pearce met Mr Di Girolamo in August 2011 over the $100 million contract to project manage water infrastructure in northwest Sydney. At the time, Sydney Water was threatening to take future works in the growth centre out to tender - a move which Mr Di Girolamo said would lead to legal action as he had won an original contract in 1990. After the meeting, the then chair of Australian Water and president of the Liberal Party, now Senator Arthur Sinodinos, wrote to Sydney Water and CCed the Premier again lobbying for the contract. A month later, Mr O'Farrell's director-general Chris Eccles wrote to Australian Water saying that the shareholding ministers would not intervene. Sydney Water then granted Mr Di Girolamo's company the contract in February 2012. Mr O'Farrell and Mr Pearce deny any involvement in the tender, with a spokesman for Sydney Water saying last week only that Mr Pearce was given "routine updates" on how the matter was progressing. Since then, it has emerged that the Obeid family had a secret interest in Australian Water and that former Labor ministers Tony Kelly and Joe Tripodi were lobbying the former Labor premier Kristina Keneally to give them a much bigger Rouse Hill contract. Mr Di Girolamo did not return calls from The Daily Telegraph yesterday.