ICAC hearing: Louise Waterhouse quizzed over Berejiklian’s private email
Racing heir Louise Waterhouse was allegedly given the direct, personal email of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian by former MP Daryl Maguire.
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Former MP Daryl Maguire gave the private email address of Gladys Berejiklian to Louise Waterhouse so the racing heir could “rub (the premier’s) ego” and have her “kill” government officials standing in the way of a property development, the corruption watchdog has heard.
The direct line to the premier was revealed after the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard Maguire felt Lucy Turnbull was a “dumb” appointment to oversee the city’s development.
It’s also been claimed Maguire asked his close mate, a property developer, to identify Labor-linked officials and “grubs” who held back projects so the government could be wary of appointing them to independent panels.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating the alleged relationships between the former Member for Wagga Wagga and property developers around Sydney.
Among them is the daughter of Bill Waterhouse who oversaw a family property of 233 hectares, known as SmartWest, near the site of the planned aerotropolis of Badgerys Creek.
The ICAC previously heard Ms Waterhouse allegedly told an intermediary to “take care” of Maguire with a potential $1 million payout if the sale of her land to a massive Chinese firm went through.
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That’s because, it is claimed, Maguire was pushing ministers and departments to change zoning and road access to SmartWest.
Ms Waterhouse “absolutely denied” offering Maguire money when she took the stand on Tuesday but acknowledged Maguire had given her more help than any of the many parliamentarians she had approached about her property.
She also said he, at one stage, told her to speak with someone and there was “nothing in it” for him.
In mid-November 2017, after multiple unsuccessful approaches to government departments regarding an intersection, Maguire tells Ms Waterhouse to go to the top directly and “rub the ego” of Ms Berejiklian.
“Tell her that you’re really frustrated getting nowhere with it,” Maguire is heard saying in an intercepted phone call.
“She’ll give it a tickle from up top.”
Maguire is heard initially saying “just blame me” for giving out the Premier’s private email address but then changes his mind saying Ms Berejiklian “won’t mind” if Ms Waterhouse contacts her directly.
“Spit it out in a one or two pager, this is what you’ve been trying to do and these people are getting in your way - just kill them - off with their heads, take no prisoners, we just haven’t got time,” he said.
Maguire warns Ms Waterhouse “all that stuff is ICACable” and Ms Waterhouse said she didn’t want to be involved in any “freedom of information” issue.
She told the ICAC she had “no idea” why Maguire was concerned and didn’t know why she mentioned “freedom of information” saying she just “didn’t want to embarrass him”.
“It was silly talk,” she said.
“I was pleased to get direct access, I didn’t expect to get a personal email… I wasn’t concerned about impropriety, I think it was a bit cheeky.”
Ms Waterhouse said she contacted the premier but received no response.
Some weeks earlier another phone call was intercepted appearing to show Maguire and Ms Waterhouse venting about the Greater Sydney Commission’s failure to take SmartWest into account in the way they hoped.
Mrs Turnbull was the inaugural Chief Commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission and oversaw the development of the state government’s 40-year plan for the region and five associated district plans.
“I don’t know why they’ve appointed (Mrs Turnbull) in the first place, it was dumb,” Maguire is heard saying in late October 2017.
“Trouble is, no one wants to get rid of her.”
Ms Waterhouse agrees.
“That’s the problem, you put someone like that in you can never get rid of them,” she said
Maguire said he believes there are “agendas” and doubted if Mrs Turnbull was “qualified” and Ms Waterhouse says she thinks there’s an “ulterior motive” in the GSC.
Mrs Turnbull stepped down from the GSC in March this year.
The ICAC, on Tuesday, also heard from developer Joseph Alha who is also a close friend of Maguire.
Counsel Assisting Scott Robertson said Maguire and Mr Alha spoke about “baddies” applying for positions on Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels.
“There’ll be lots of shit applying… who should we be aware of?” Maguire asked in an intercepted phone call in late October 2017.
“I’ll talk to you face to face about the names,” Mr Alha responded.
The IHAPs were designed to take complex or major planning decisions out of local government hands.
Mr Alha said he and Maguire worked to load the panels with Liberal-friendly names because the developer didn’t have “access” to Labor officials.
“You wanted Liberal people everywhere because that’s the party that supports you,” he told the ICAC.
He agreed he produced names for Maguire of officials he’d had bad experiences with in previous developments.
“What names did you need apart from that grub?” Mr Alha said in an intercepted call, before identifying two people to Maguire.
“Those two are bad news.”
The ICAC heard Maguire told the relevant minister’s office there were “shifty” people applying for positions and some names “might not be suitable”.
The ICAC resumes on Wednesday with Maguire’s son expected to take the stand via videolink.
WATERHOUSE HEIR TO FRONT ICAC
A member of the iconic Waterhouse horse racing clan will be quizzed by the corruption watchdog for her relationship with a former politician who allegedly “greased the wheels” of government to help sell a vast swathe of land to Chinese buyers.
Louise Raedler Waterhouse, the Honorary Consul General to Tonga, is expected to front the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday after multiple emails, released by the watchdog, appeared to show her trying to meet with NSW government officials.
She is not accused of any wrongdoing - the ICAC is probing Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire’s alleged misuse of his public office.
The daughter of legendary bookie Bill Waterhouse was allegedly the surprise guest of Maguire for a meeting at NSW Parliament House in early 2018.
Maguire was supposed to be broadly briefed by one of Sydney’s top planners about the future of the aerotropolis near Badgerys Creek.
But the planner, Sarah Hill, claimed to the ICAC she felt Maguire was there as an “advocate” for Ms Waterhouse - who owned hundreds of hectares of land around the new airport.
“I remember him being quite derogatory towards bureaucrats and, and frustrated,” Dr Hill said on Friday.
The ICAC has heard Maguire has been pushing NSW Government staffers to change the zoning and roads around a 233ha Waterhouse property known as SmartWest.
Those changes would likely drive up the price to be paid by SmartWest’s potential buyer, a Chinese company called Country Gardens, the ICAC heard.
Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson said Maguire was making introductions and “doing other things to grease the wheels to make it happen”.
A broking agent working for the Waterhouses claimed Maguire was going to be paid at least $690,000, but up to $1 million, if the sale went through.
The sale did not eventuate, however.
One junior government staffer, Jock Sowter, was working for then-roads minister Mel Pavey when he met allegedly with Maguire and Ms Waterhouse outside the Premier’s office in Parliament House.
He told the ICAC, on Friday, Ms Waterhouse briefed him on SmartWest and asked for his help to move an intersection in late 2017.
Mr Sowter claimed Maguire sent him a furious email when the ministry was unable to intervene on road issues around SmartWest.
“That means the land is locked and undevelopable by the owner !!!!!,” Maguire wrote in an email released by the ICAC.
“Go back again and please do not accept their BS, find a way to help”
Maguire allegedly went higher, complaining to staff in the office of Transport Minister Andrew Constance, who held a senior position over a “cluster” of government departments.
Maguire was ultimately toppled a few months later, in mid-2018, when a separate ICAC investigation played recordings of him working to secure another development in Campsie.
That property developer, Joseph Alha, will also give evidence on Tuesday before the ICAC.
A month after his ejection from politics, Ms Waterhouse appeared to still be pushing government officials for changes to the road around SmartWest.
An email appears to show Ms Waterhouse trying to organise a meeting with senior staff from Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW to discuss her plans to turn SmartWest into a “Fresh Food Precinct” adjoining the airport.
Maguire’s son, James, is also on the ICAC witness list for this week as is the former chief of staff to Gladys Berejiklian, Sarah Cruickshank.
MAGUIRE ON TAPE BRAGGING ABOUT BIG CLIENT
Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire was captured on camera meeting with a “mega big” property developer who had “mega money” and was “hungry for DAs” in a bar near NSW Parliament House, the corruption watchdog has heard.
He also allegedly brought landowner Louise Waterhouse, a member of the legendary racing family, to a parliamentary briefing and pressured Sydney’s “shocked” top planner to change zonings around the new aerotropolis.
The former Wagga Wagga MP’s relationships with property developers has been the focus of the second week of Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings.
One large Chinese developer, Country Gardens, was trying to buy properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars around Badgerys Creek as the Greater Sydney Commission hammered out the future of the city’s west.
Country Gardens’ Director of Investment Tim Lakos told the ICAC his firm had a relationship with Maguire because he was “in the business of doing deals”.
In an intercepted phone call from May 2016 Maguire is heard talking about a “client” of his with “mega money” who wanted to start acquiring developments urgently.
“My client is mega big and has got mega money and wants two or three DA-approved projects today,” he said.
“They want to start building today so I’ve got to get a couple of really good projects in front of them...they’re hungry for DAs… all in Sydney.”
Mr Lakos told the ICAC that the client appeared to be his employer - Country Gardens.
In an email some months after that phone call Mr Lakos told his boss he wanted to formally introduce him to Maguire.
“Daryl is a minister in the NSW Government and is well connected in both government and also in some Chinese business circles,” Mr Lakos wrote in August that year.
“He is a bit of a deal broker and also willing to help with Government matters.”
An image released by the ICAC shows Maguire and Mr Lakos meeting in the bar at The Westin in Martin Place on September 20, 2017.
Country Gardens had attempted to buy a massive swathe of rural land owned by killer businessman Ron Medich’s family before turning their attention to a 233 hectare plot owned by the Waterhouse racing family, the ICAC heard this week.
Ms Waterhouse, the commission heard, initially wanted to develop the rural-zoned SmartWest property into residential land and have it included in the vision for the area which includes the new aerotropolis.
Former Nationals Minister for Roads Mel Pavey, in late 2017, sent her liaison officer Jock Sowter to meet with Maguire in the premier’s office at Parliament House, Mr Sowter told the ICAC on Friday.
At that meeting, Mr Sowter said, Ms Waterhouse was introduced to him and pitched SmartWest, asking for his department’s help to move an intersection in a way that would help develop the property.
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A few months later, in early 2018, Ms Pavey asked for the Greater Sydney Commission to brief Maguire about their plans for Badgerys Creek, the commission heard.
Greater Sydney Commission CEO Sarah Hill, on Friday, told the ICAC she didn’t realise Ms Waterhouse had also been invited to the meeting until she saw the prominent landowner going through the security checkpoint at NSW Parliament House.
Dr Hill said it was very unusual to see a specific landowner such as Ms Waterhouse at what was supposed to be a broad meeting with an MP - but Maguire’s conduct in the meeting room was even more concerning.
“He sat close to Louise, he didn’t say a lot, he sensed frustration when it didn’t go in the direction Louise wanted it to go,” Dr Hill said.
“My distinct feeling was he was more of an advocate and indeed frustrated that we weren’t progressing the conversation the way they wanted it to go.”
She said the meeting quickly became about changing the metropolitan-rural zoning boundaries around the Waterhouse land at Badgerys Creek and Maguire was getting frustrated with the commission’s answers.
The ICAC previously heard Country Gardens had concerns about both roads and zonings of the property and Maguire was allegedly “greasing the wheels” of government in those areas.
The top planner said she was left upset by a derogatory comment from Maguire about “bureaucrats” in the meeting.
“To be frank I was angry,” Dr Hill said.
“I felt either I had made a mistake or had been put in a difficult situation and I didn’t feel comfortable with his comment to us which really riled me.”
She made file notes about the encounter, saying it was a “sensitive time” for her organisation which was just days away from taking their plans for the city’s future to cabinet.
Dr Hill said Ms Waterhouse had attended many meetings about the future of Badgerys Creek and had even been party to a letter sent to Premier Gladys Berejiklian from landowners in the area.
Lib MP tried to secure $1m payday for airport land sale: ICAC
Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire allegedly pushed his own government to improve zoning and roads for a $300 million property being sold by the legendary Waterhouse racing family near Western Sydney airport in the hope of securing a $1m payout for himself, the corruption watchdog has heard.
The alleged deal faltered after Maguire said the Chinese buyer, who also eyed off plots of land owned by killer businessman Ron Medich, was hesitating because they’d never put their “testicles on a razor blade and worried about an earthquake”.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption, on Thursday, also seized another electronic device - a property broker’s phone which will be probed for messages between him and the former Wagga Wagga MP.
The ICAC heard Maguire introduced businessman William Luong to a group who owned land slated to become the aerotropolis near Badgerys Creek.
That was a company linked to the Waterhouse racing family including Louise Waterhouse - the daughter of iconic bookmaker Bill Waterhouse, the ICAC heard.
Mr Luong told the ICAC he had been acting as an agent for Chinese company Country Gardens who were looking to buy land in the area.
Country Gardens had considered buying land owned by Ron Medich who would be ultimately convicted in 2018 of killing his former partner and nemesis Michael McGurk in 2009.
But, once he met Ms Waterhouse in early 2017, Mr Luong said he began to act as an agent for her as she tried to sell a massive plot known as SmartWest.
Documents online, dated that year, say SmartWest is a 233 hectare property “located on the western side of Willowdene Avenue, Luddenham and adjoins the western boundary of the Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek”. All up the Waterhouses held 300 hectares across the area, according to the documents.
Those documents also contain a list of government ministers, officials and committees who had been briefed about SmartWest from 2015 to 2017.
Maguire is not among the names.
Louise Raedler Waterhouse is the daughter of legendary bookie Bill Waterhouse.
The ICAC heard her brother, Robbie, also met with Mr Luong in relation to the Sydney property deal.
Robbie is married to thoroughbred champion trainer Gai Waterhouse.
Louise’s nephew, Robbie and Gai’s son, is Tom Waterhouse who ran his own massive online booking agency under his own name.
Louise is the honorary consul general of Tonga.
No member of the Waterhouse family is being investigated for improper conduct.
Louise is expected to give evidence at the ICAC next week.
Mr Luong said the Waterhouse family initially wanted to develop SmartWest.
“Our vision is to be very forward thinking - mainly in the areas of employment and tourism,” Ms Waterhouse wrote to Maguire in an email released by the ICAC dated April 2017.
“(It) includes a free trade zone area as well as high tech logistics and start up area close to the airport.”
But development wasn’t worth it, Mr Luong told ICAC, because it was industrial land beneath the future flight path.
Eventually he convinced them to sell the whole lot and Ms Waterhouse told him to “take care” of Maguire, he told the ICAC.
The ICAC heard SmartWest was expected to go for more than $300m and Mr Luong was looking at making between $6.9m and $10m for broking the sale.
The “introductory fee”, which Maguire would claim, would likely be a standard 10 per cent, Mr Luong said.
But Maguire’s fee may have been more, Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson said, because the politician had been pushing for changes to SmartWest’s roads and zoning.
Mr Robertson put to Mr Luong that the land would be worth more if it had favourable zoning and better roads.
“If you ended up with a fee of $6.9m you might pay Maguire a fee of more than one million out of that,” he said.
“(But) Mr Maguire did more than introducing.”
“I didn’t ask him to do it,” Mr Luong replied.
In an intercepted phone call, played before the ICAC, Maguire told Mr Luong he “likes to help people” after being told SmartWest was going to fetch $330m.
“When that’s all over you better come up for the weekend and spend some time on the farm,” Maguire said.
The sale did not eventuate.
Multiple intercepted phone calls between Maguire and Luong appear to show the Wagga MP working to firm up the deal before it collapsed in late 2017.
In one phonecall, in November that year, Maguire gives Mr Luong advice on how to speak with his Country Gardens contact “over a glass of red” about any concerns with the rezoning.
“He is risk averse because he’s not the owner… he’s more worried about his job and his future rather than taking a risk like most entrepreneurs,” Maguire said.
“They’ve never got their testicles out, put them on a razor blade and then worried about an earthquake - that’s the problem.”
The ICAC also heard Maguire had ensured Mr Luong had been invited to events that saw him rub shoulders with powerful people. He claimed he even had dinner sitting next to Premier Gladys Berejiklian once.
In that same phone call the pair spoke about one such “function” the night before.
“Louise enjoyed herself and she was good company,” Maguire said.
“Adds a bit of bling to the functions and everybody knows her.”
Mr Luong told the ICAC he spoke with Maguire about the investigation over the phone in late 2018 and the former MP told him to delete all WeChat messages.
The ICAC ordered Mr Luong to surrender his phone so it could be scoured for communications between him and Maguire.
Mr Luong, earlier in the day, was asked about 10 times if he’d worked with Maguire to get the sale to go through but - each time - diverted from the question.
“Why is it so difficult to provide a straight answer to this question?” an exasperated Mr Robertson said.
“I don‘t think the answer is fair,” Mr Luong responded.
Mr Luong’s phone is now the second electronic device handed over to the ICAC after a hard drive from Maguire’s Parliamentary computer was revealed as being hidden in a staffer’s drawer in Parliament House.
Rebecca Cartwright, who still holds a position in the Government Whip’s office, was escorted to Parliament House last week and the hard drive formally handed over to investigators.
She had told the ICAC that Maguire instructed her to take custody of the hard drive and ensure it gets “lost in the post” after he was ousted from politics in mid-2018.