NSW Valuer General banned from speaking to ‘anxious and fearful’ staff

Millions of home valuations and compulsory acquisitions are at risk after the NSW Valuer General was banned from speaking to “anxious and fearful” staff.

The NSW Valuer General’s office is in utter chaos with the independent officer banned from speaking to staff because they are “anxious and fearful”.

The untenable situation has put millions of home valuations and compulsory acquisitions at risk of delay.

Valuer General David Parker personally detailed the situation in extraordinary evidence to a parliamentary committee, accusing the government of interfering with the independence of his role.

Mr Parker detailed how an absurd chain of command had been created by bureaucrats which ultimately handed the power of valuations back to the government: “effectively, the executive government would be undertaking valuations upon which executive government would then raise taxes and make compensation payments,” he said.

NSW Valuer General David Parker. Picture: 7News Sydney

Mr Parker told the committee the arrangements were laid out in letter he received on May 10 from Secretary of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Jim Betts.

“I was effectively directed by the secretary of the department not to communicate with any staff in Valuer General NSW other than the executive director, the executive officer and my executive assistant. This was later varied to include the Deputy Valuer General.

“In the same letter I was effectively directed to raise any concerns regarding my ability to carry out my functions with the group deputy secretary, who would advise me what action, if any, would be taken.”

In the June 10 hearing, Mr Parker he considered the situation “unworkable” and that “one potential effect is that the July 2021 valuation cannot go ahead and the compulsory acquisition compensation determinations cease”.

He confirmed the direction was explained to him as to “protect the staff’s health and safety as a group of staff felt anxious and fearful”.

Under questioning from Labor shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey, Mr Parker agreed he had raised concerns about the length of time compulsory acquisitions were taking, and that he tried to “probe what the reasons were for the delay”.

Mr Mookey put to Mr Parker that it was “unacceptable” for compulsory acquisitions under the Just Terms Act to take 85 days, with Mr Parker answering “yes”.

Mr Parker added “there were also issues on transparency and clarity with the ratings valuations”.

The Valuer General gave one example of a property valuation put to him which was $4.5 million in 2019 and $2.7 million in 2020.

“Regrettably it was not a case of one year being right and one year being wrong, it was a case of both years being wrong. Not only were both years wrong, the direction was reversed,” Mr Parker said.

Asked directly if he had engaged in any form of bullying or harassment, Mr Parker answered “no”.

When approached for comment, a spokesman for the Department of Planning did not answer detailed questions but said “organisational changes” had been implemented to “better clarify the manner in which support is provided to the valuer general”.

“These include the Executive Director VGNSW taking on additional administrative functions as part of the day-to-day management of VGNSW.”

They insisted the office of the Valuer General “remains on track to deliver its valuations as scheduled”.

Property Minister Melinda Pavey did not comment.

Mr Mookhey said “the turmoil inside the Valuer-General’s office is a farce”.

“The chronic infighting threatens the valuations used to calculate every landholder’s council rates and land taxes,” he said.

“The hundreds of families set to lose their home to a compulsory acquisition deserve a valuation office whose integrity is above suspicion.”