Michael Daley did not disclose developer donations to political campaigns
Labor leader Michael Daley did not declare developer donations and repeatedly attempted to block and overturn donation disclosure rules after granting DAs for projects to ALP donors during his time at Randwick City Council, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Labor leader Michael Daley did not disclose developer donations to his political campaigns when assessing multimillion-dollar development applications during his time at Randwick City Council despite council rules requiring councillors to do so.
Mr Daley, deputy mayor and a councillor from 1995 to 2008, even went so far as to repeatedly try to block and overturn donation disclosure rules after granting DAs for at times highly contentious projects to ALP donors.
Today’s revelation about Mr Daley’s history of accepting developer donations — and seeking to keep them secret — come as his bid to be the premier of NSW includes a campaign against overdevelopment in Sydney.
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Not declaring developer donations is at odds with Randwick Council’s transparency rules and its anti-corruption Code of Conduct enshrined in law by the Carr government in January 2005 after ICAC scandals at other councils.
In one of three cases of impropriety uncovered, Mr Daley did not disclose his long-time campaign director, Ken Murray, was a director and president of the Randwick Labor Club at the time it sought approval for a $5 million development, while donating almost $500,000 to the ALP.
Mr Daley thanked Mr Murray in his maiden state parliament speech and he now works for the Labor leader as an electorate officer.
In another case, eastern suburbs developers Meck Developments and their affiliated companies donated $3000 to Mr Daley’s Maroubra by-election campaign just before polling day and $3000 to the 2004 ALP Randwick Council election ticket. It then had lucrative developments green-lit by the council, with Mr Daley supporting developments but not disclosing any conflict of interest.
In a third case, Mr Daley also did not declare any conflict when supporting a DA to redevelop Randwick’s Coach and Horses Hotel in February 2006, despite owners Argos Investments contributing $11,250 to his team running for council elections and $89,750 to the NSW ALP branch over a period of six years.
Mr Daley is also facing questions about whether he misled parliament over a DA granted for the home of jailed former Health Services Union boss, Michael Williamson. He previously told parliament he had only ever had “incidental” meetings with Williamson, but yesterday Mr Daley said he could not recall whether he had actually done a site visit to Mr Williamson’s home prior to the DA approval.
Mr Daley repeatedly voted against Randwick City Council’s 2005 anti-corruption measures which required all councillors to disclose donations from developers. And Mr Daley tried to overturn the rules in June 2005, moving the motion himself. He was then one of only two councillors to vote against even tougher disclosure rules in 2006.
The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting Mr Daley benefited personally from donations, which were legal.
Mr Daley rejected any suggestion of impropriety over his dealings with developments by the Randwick Labor Club, Argos and Meck Investments. “In my 23 years in public life, I have always acted with integrity and propriety,” he said. “I completely reject any suggestion that I acted improperly when I was a Randwick councillor.”
The Randwick Labor Club was a generous donor to the Labor Party, giving the NSW ALP branch $455,500 between 1999 and 2005, contributing $33,000 to the Labor Party team running for office in the 2000 Randwick local council elections, which included Mr Daley, and another $10,400 for the 2004 campaign.
The club’s address was also listed for another $16,667 donation from the Health Services Union to the ALP’s NSW branch for Mr Daley’s 2005 Maroubra by-election when he replaced Bob Carr. Mr Murray was the campaign director for that ALP local council team for both local council elections, Mr Daley’s successful by-election bid and he is now his electorate officer.
Mr Daley declared a “non-pecuniary” interest in the club as a member but did not declare he had received donations for his state by-election campaign, nor that donations had been given to ALP council team of which he was a member, or the ALP. Nor did he declare his relationship with Mr Murray, whom he thanked in his maiden speech to state parliament in 2005, expressing his “enormous gratitude”, adding Mr Murray “left no stone unturned” in getting the Labor message out there.
On August 8, 2006, the council’s planning committee considered a $5 million refurbishment for the club and the planning committee gave DA consent, without a condition recommended by the council officers. There is no record of Mr Daley absenting himself and he took part in a vote on the development.
In the case of the Meck developers, they donated $3000 to the Labor team running for office at Randwick Council on March 9, 2004, and gave $3000 to Mr Daley’s 2005 Maroubra by-election campaign, five days before polling day.
Three of their DAs were debated at Randwick Council, including a controversial $3.5 million development on Anzac Pde, La Perouse, which was initially knocked back by the council and opposed by Mr Daley in 2003. The developers took it to the Land and Environment Court and lost.
But in 2005 Mr Daley voted in favour of the development, coincidentally after the developer donated to the ALP council team elections. Residents were upset because the development affected ocean views, had a bulky exterior, was out of character for the area and would create traffic problems.
No declaration of a pecuniary or non-pecuniary conflict of interest is recorded by Mr Daley, despite another councillor stating on the record his grandfather was an objector to the development. No other ALP councillors declared donor conflicts.
In a second $2.5 million Meck DA, for an apartment block in Coogee, even the then local Labor MP, Paul Pearce, called for it to be rejected. The council voted to knock back the proposal in July 2005, but Mr Daley called a division with his fellow ALP councillors, voting against the decision to refuse the DA. His division lost by a single vote. Mr Daley, along with ALP councillors, then lodged a motion to rescind the refusal.
During all discussion about the property, there is no record of Mr Daley or fellow ALP councillors disclosing the donations or removing themselves from the debate.
RESIDENTS: CONCERNS FELL ON DEAF EARS
By Clarissa Bye and Campbell Gellie
Exclusive: Residents within Randwick Council complain they have spent years fighting against developments that don’t meet strict rules about height, floor ratios, landscaping and setbacks — but no one has listened.
Many say they were suspicious about how some “grossly overdeveloped” blocks of apartments ever got the green light, but were powerless to prevent their construction.
Coogee Bay’s Michael Richards objected to a $2.5 million development opposite his Dudley St home in 2005 because it was “too bulky”, had “small setbacks” and would reduce street car parking.
He even went to a council meeting one night to complain about the three-storey block of 13 apartments.
The ALP Coogee member at the time, Paul Pearce, also campaigned against the development, saying it did not comply with council rules and would have an “unacceptable impact” on surrounding properties.
Other councillors tried to vote against the development at a July 2005 meeting, saying there were inadequate setbacks among other issues, but Michael Daley called a division with his fellow ALP councillors and voted against the refusal. His division was lost by a single vote and the council refused the DA.
But Mr Daley and fellow ALP councillors lodged a notion to rescind this in August 2005 and it went to mediation.
“I would like to vote Labor in this election but one thing stopping me is Michael Daley, because of how he was when he was on the council,” Mr Richards said. “He was horrible and they (the Labor councillors) were the powerbrokers.”
Mr Daley has denied any impropriety.
Mr Richards said he and his wife suspected the developers had donated to the ALPs election campaigns.
Mr Richards said some councillors did not want the development but refused to vote against party lines. “You could see some councillors didn’t want to vote (to approve) a development but they had to vote along party lines,” he said.
Mr Daley did not attend the planning committee meeting to approve the DA in November 2005, but at a later March 2006 meeting he seconded a motion to approve an amendment to the DA. This gave the development an extra three parking spots, extended the building to the rear and increased floor space ratios.
‘THEY FORGOT WE HAD OBJECTED’
In 2003, Coogee’s Bruce Hammond discovered a $3 million 17-dwelling, four-storey apartment was proposed to be built behind him, in Arden St, overshadowing his home.
Residents were up in arms over the plan, with concerns it would affect their privacy. Many told the council it was an “overdevelopment for the site”. Others said floor-to-space ratios were too large and the scale of the development was “excessive”. “We did object (but) a friend of ours went to the council meeting and when the (development) came up they just approved it,” Mr Hammond said. “They basically forgot we had objected at all.”
A council report from the time found the proposed floor space ratio exceeded maximum floor space rules, while a Design Review Panel — an advisory group designed to help the council with independent advice — had “major concerns”.
Council minutes from a December 9, 2003 meeting show Mr Daley seconded a successful motion to grant the building consent, subject to certain conditions, including deleting a unit from the plans.
In March 2004, developer Meck Investments donated $3000 to the Randwick Council ALP ticket for election, which included Mr Daley.
The DA went back and forth with the council over following months, then in July 2004 Mr Daley seconded a further motion to pass an amended DA. It passed with some increased unit sizes despite recommendations to the contrary.
No disclosures of pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests were made to council meetings. In September 2005, a company owned by Meck Investments donated $3000 to Mr Daley’s Maroubra by-election campaign.
“It doesn’t surprise me the developer had given them donations,” Mr Hammond said.
— Additional reporting by Campbell Gellie
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