MP Alister Henskens claims bureaucrat used inside information to profit on property
Allegations that a government bureaucrat used secret planning information for their own private benefit have been referred to the corruption watchdog.
NSW
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Allegations that a government bureaucrat used secret planning information for their own private benefit have been referred to the corruption watchdog.
Planning minister Paul Scully has also asked liberal MP Alister Henskens to hand over any evidence regarding the allegations to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mr Henskens used parliamentary privilege on Thursday to allege a planning official used inside information after he bought a property near areas set to be rezoned under Minns government planning proposals.
The government has now sent the allegations to ICAC.
“There is absolutely no place for the kind of actions being alleged by the Member for Wahroonga,” Mr Scully said.
“The NSW Government will refer the Member’s statement to the ICAC, and will cooperate fully with any investigation.
“We urge the Member to make a similar referral, and provide ICAC with whatever information he has to allow for a comprehensive investigation.
“Anyone who has allegations of corruption should bring them to the attention of the ICAC,” he said .
Mr Henskens alleged the planning official had encouraged neighbours to join a syndicate to sell their homes, in a bid to profit from the proposed rezonings which would allow greater density and height limits near specific train stations.
Announced by Premier Chris Minns in December, the government says its Transport Oriented Development (TOD) scheme will allow 47,800 new homes to be built around eight train stations, due to greater height and density limits.
Land around 31 other stations will also be rezoned to allow for higher density, including Killara, Lindfield, and Roseville.
“Around the time that the National Housing Accord was signed by the Minns government (in August), a senior official from the Department of Planning purchased a property within one of the proposed TODs on the north shore,” Mr Henskens said.
Mr Henskens added there was “a strong circumstantial case that the property’s acquisition was motivated by inside information as to the planned TOD policy”.
“Shortly after living in the neighbourhood, the planning official then communicated with neighbours about banding together to sell their properties to a developer, promising a significant uplift on its current value because of the government’s likely housing policies,” Mr Henskens went on to claim.
Mr Henskens alleged that there was “credible evidence … the planning official has used confidential information before it has come into the public domain, and passed that information onto residents in an attempt to make them become part of a property syndicate that the public official wants to put together”.
The Wahroonga MP said he was “being deliberately careful as to specific detail as to names, suburbs and addresses to protect the identity of my confidential informant and other neighbours”.
Mr Henskens finished by calling for an independent inquiry, saying it “is the only way that confidence can be restored to the integrity of the implementation of the government’s policy”.
Mr Henskens would not provide more information when contacted on Thursday.
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