IBAC hears residents’ group a ‘front’ for developer John Woodman
An IBAC hearing into allegations of planning-related corruption at Casey Council has lifted the lid on how a residents group was used as a vehicle to drive the interests of Ferrari-loving developer John Woodman.
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A residents group in Melbourne’s southeast was used as a “Trojan horse” to advance a multi-millionaire developer’s interests, an anti-corruption commission has heard.
The group was allegedly the brainchild of developer John Woodman, and was bankrolled to push for the rezoning of industrial land on Melbourne’s urban fringe.
The Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group also advocated for the quick construction of a key intersection along Hall Rd, in line with the “Woodman agenda”.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has lifted the lid on how the group was used as a vehicle to drive the Ferrari-loving developer’s interests, as it probes allegations of planning-related corruption at Casey Council.
Mr Woodman is accused of making $1.2 million in payments to councillors Sam Aziz and Geoff Ablett.
Accountants have also uncovered payments from Mr Woodman’s Watsons Pty Ltd and a consultancy company to the residents group and its president that allegedly totalled $193,000.
The president, Ray Walker, was also given a $5000-a-month gig as a market researcher when he threatened to pull back from the group in order to get a paid job.
Planning consultant Megan Schutz told the commission on Thursday that the community group was a “classic John Woodman strategy”.
“The community’s objectives were being used by the developers like a Trojan horse,” she said.
The brazen “astro turfing” strategy — masking a developer’s agenda as a grassroots campaign — included developer Leightons covering the cost of the group’s website, signage, letterbox drops and a barrister that represented the group before an independent panel considering the rezoning.
Letters and petitions purportedly from SCWRAG were used to garner support at a council and state government level.
Detailed meeting notes uncovered during IBAC’s investigations also reveal that Ms Schutz, Mr Walker, Mr Woodman’s assistant, Joeleen Rohm, and then-mayor Cr Ablett met last August to strategise ahead of a critical council vote on the Hall Rd intersection.
The notes revealed that Mr Walker would write and send Cr Ablett a letter purporting to be from SCWRAG that supported Mr Woodman’s bid to have the intersection built quickly.
Counsel assisting the commission Michael Tovey QC, said: “Geoff Ablett, the mayor, is there planning to have a letter sent to himself in order to help promote the scheme.”
Cr Ablett was conflicted and unable to vote on the issue, but Cr Aziz used the letter to push the motion.
The commission was also played a secretly recorded call last October in which Ms Schutz told Mr Woodman that “it’s taken a bit” but that Mr Walker was “on board”.
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“You have trained him well,” Mr Woodman said.
In a call a week later, after questions where raised about the developer’s relationship with the community group, the commission heard that Mr Woodman and Ms Schutz plotted to “disguise” their relationship with Mr Walker.
But Ms Schutz claimed on Thursday that Mr Walker was “his own mind” and that “the community and Leightons Properties were beneficial to each other because they want(ed) the same thing”.
The hearing continues.