Council election: Liberal Christine Forster accuses Clover Moore of pro-development conflict of interest

CONTROVERSIAL Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore stands accused of a pro-development conflict of interest by her Liberal competitor Christine Forster.

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CONTROVERSIAL Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore stands accused of a pro-development conflict of interest by her Liberal competitor Christine Forster.

Ms Forster, who is Ms Moore’s closest competitor for the council election this weekend, says council records show her running mate Philip Thalis, an architect, was associated with 54 development applications that went through council since Ms Moore’s election in 2004.

Ms Forster said Ms Moore would be exposed to conflicts of interest with Mr Thalis as part of her council team.

Sydney Lord Mayoral candidate Councillor Christine Forster has accused Clover Moore of pro-development conflic of interest. Picture: Stephen Cooper

“Concerns over apparent conflicts of interest have been raised with me by a number of constituents,” Ms Forster said.

“The Lord Mayor has made a big deal during this campaign about being independent and having the highest standards of governance, yet these appear to be very direct conflicts of interests. In the interests of ensuring the highest levels of governance and transparency Clover Moore has a lot of questions to answer.”

A spokesman for the Clover Moore team said allegations of conflicts of interest were “baseless” given Mr Thalis has already stood down from doing any work for the city.

“As a precondition of standing as a Councillor, Phillip has already committed to withdrawing from doing any work directly for the City,” the spokesman said.

“The City manages thousands of DAs a year — less than five a year have related to Phillip’s work as an architect.”

Philip Thalis, pictured left.

Mud-slinging for the hotly contested Lord Mayor’s job continues, with Independent candidate Angela Vithoulkas hitting out at Ms Forster for using her brother, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott as her “selling point”.

“What I have witnessed is she says “Hi, I am Tony Abbott’s sister”, that is her opening pitch,” Ms Vithoulkas said.

“Is Tony Abbott running for council? And how do Libs feel about that?”

Ms Forster said Ms Vithoulkas’ claim was “ludicrous” and the only time she mentioned Mr Abbott was if people asked her if he was her brother.

“I say I am Christine Forster and I am the Liberal candidate. Often I get asked, and of course I say he is my brother if people ask,” Ms Forster said.