John Woodman set up residents’ group to back his interests
A Cranbourne West residents’ group — the brainchild of the Ferrari-driving developer at the centre of the Casey council scandal — was set up to push key projects that would have made him millions. Here’s how it was done.
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An anti-corruption commission has lifted the lid on how a residents group in Melbourne’s southeast was used as a “Trojan horse” to advance a multi-millionaire developer’s interests.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission has heard that the residents’ group was the brainchild of Ferrari-driving developer John Woodman, and was used as the vehicle to push his agenda.
“It’s a classic John Woodman strategy,” planning consultant Megan Schutz told the commission this week.
The residents’ group — dubbed Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group, or SCWRAG — backed two key projects linked to Mr Woodman that have come under the microscope during IBAC’s investigation into planning-related corruption at Casey Council.
The first related to a proposed rezoning of land in Cranbourne West from industrial to residential, which if ticked off would have boosted its value by $100 million.
The second centred on the construction of an intersection on Hall Rd in Cranbourne, amid debate between surrounding developers over when it would be built and who would foot the bill.
In a brazen case of “astroturfing” — masking a corporation’s agenda as a grassroots campaign — IBAC heard that developers bankrolled the group with accountants uncovering $193,000 in payments to the association and its president.
“The community’s objectives were being used by the developer like a Trojan horse,” Ms Schutz said.
HOW SCWRAG WAS SET UP AND WHO PAID
Ms Schutz, who worked at the behest of Mr Woodman, told the commission that the residents’ group was set up in the wake of a $20,000 “community day” to float the proposed rezoning at Cranbourne West.
One of the landowners, developer Leightons, splashed cash on a jumping castle, free coffee and “stuff for the kids”, but council officers reported immediately after the event that “a lot of misinformation” had been spread.
A 2015 email uncovered by IBAC revealed that Ms Schutz suggested a residents’ group be formed — and named Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group — “to have a unified voice speaking on behalf of the community.”
“Now that we have established the group, we can let the community know about it,” she wrote.
The consultant also set up SCWRAG’s website and used the details of the group’s president, Ray Walker, when filling out formal registration documents.
In October last year, when questions where being raised about Mr Woodman’s close relationship with the group, Ms Schutz assured him that her name would not be found on the registration documents.
“I did all the paper work, but I did it from the Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group email address,” Ms Schutz said in the tapped call.
“I didn’t put any of my details in, Ray and Verlie Walker had their details put in.”
In stunning evidence, the anti-corruption commission heard also that Leightons covered the cost of SCWRAG’s “community activities” — letter drops, its website and signs on the land that read “no to industrial”.
The developer even paid for a barrister to represent the group at a panel hearing on the rezoning, which the commission heard was designed so that “SCWRAG would maintain clout before the tribunal as appearing to be independent.”
‘HAS SOMEONE GOT A JOB FOR HIM?’
In 2016, SCWRAG’s president told Ms Schutz that he would have to step away from the role in order to get a job.
Instead, Mr Woodman gave Mr Walker a $5000-a-month gig as a market researcher who drove around estates in Melbourne’s southeast gauging the type and cost of lots that were being sold.
“I went to John and (his son) Heath Woodman and I said, you know, ‘Ray needs to be employed, has someone got a job for him?’” Ms Schutz said.
“What I knew was that if we wanted Ray Walker to continue his activities on behalf of the community in SCWRAG that it would be very helpful to him to give him a job.”
IBAC also heard that in a bid to “disguise” payments for other consulting work, Ms Schutz paid Mr Walker and was “then disbursing it to Watsons (Mr Woodman’s development company) to pay me back”.
THE LETTER SENT BY SCWRAG
Letters and petitions purportedly from SCWRAG were used to garner support at council and state government level.
Detailed meeting notes uncovered during IBAC’s investigations reveal that Ms Schutz, Mr Walker, Mr Woodman’s assistant, Joeleen Rohm, and then-mayor Cr Geoff Ablett met in August last year to strategise before 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 wish to have the intersection built quickly.
Counsel assisting the commission Michael Tovey QC, said on Thursday: “Geoff Ablett, the mayor, is there planning to have a letter sent to himself in order to help promote the scheme.”
Cr Ablett had declared a conflict of interest on planning issues relating to Mr Woodman so was unable to vote, but Cr Sam Aziz used the letter to successfully push the motion.
Mr Woodman is accused of making $1.2 million in payments to councillors Ablett and Aziz.
Ms Schutz was grilled on Thursday about whether a letter from a seemingly independent residents’ group, actually backed by a developer, was misleading, deceptive or fraudulent.
“When I think of fraudulent I think someone faking someone’s signature, being someone else that they are not,” she said.
“I think ‘fraudulent’ is maybe too strong a word for what has occurred here.
“I agree with you, Mr Commissioner, that this is not a transparent process and it’s not an appropriate process.”
IS THIS HAPPENING ACROSS VICTORIA?
Mr Woodman and Ms Schutz both gave evidence that it was a “common modus operandi” for developers to use community groups to further their interests.
Mr Woodman said residents’ groups were commonly formed through donations from developers, something he said planning ministers were generally aware of when considering community support for a project.
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“It’s not a formal arrangement that the Planning Minister would be formally aware of, but he would be informally understanding that a group of SCWRAGers involving 1100 people would not be able to be drawn together without some assistance financially in the commencement of that group,” Mr Woodman told the commission.
Ms Schutz also said: “In terms of community groups being a planning tool that developers use, there are other instances of major players nationally and in Victoria who use this exact methodology, this tool.”