Daniel Andrews still confident in Treasurer Tim Pallas
The Premier says there are “literally limitless” types of issues that would be appropriately referred to public servants and he remains confident in Tim Pallas, despite claims he introduced a developer to a senior government official.
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Premier Daniel Andrews says he has absolute confidence in Treasurer Tim Pallas following accusations the MP introduced an associate of developer John Woodman to a senior government official.
An Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearing heard on Tuesday that Megan Schutz, a lawyer working for John Woodman, had thanked Mr Pallas for the introduction to the secretary of his department.
The statement was part of a bombshell secret phone recording that was aired as the commission continues its investigation into political donations and planning processes.
Mr Andrews on Wednesday refused to comment on the IBAC investigation but said it was common practice to refer issues to public servants.
“I’m sure there are literally hundreds of referrals made every, every week,” he said.
“Matters get raised by lots of different people and often the best place for them is to be referred to an independent member of the public service to assess the issue.
“There are literally limitless amounts and types of issues that would be appropriately referred to public servants.
“I don’t know what the alternative would be.”
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the new evidence was concerning.
“People cannot believe a word that Daniel Andrews says,” Mr O’Brien said.
“He told Victorians - he told the media - he was not close to John Woodman, now it the evidence comes out that he is going up to Woodman’s right-hand lady and giving her a kiss on the cheek saying, ‘say hi to John for me’.
“He has had private dinners at the Flower Drum with Woodman, he has had donations from Woodman.
“This is not the actions of someone who is not close to John Woodman. Daniel Andrews has got a lot of explaining to do.”
Mr Andrews would also not be drawn on the closeness of his relationship with Ms Schutz and Mr Woodman.
“The people you’re asking me about and the issues you’re asking me about are being considered by IBAC now,” he said.
‘Let’s wait and see where IBAC gets to and then we can speak in more fulsome terms then.”
ACCESS PROBED
The access that Ferrari-driving developer John Woodman had to senior members of the Andrews Government — including the premier himself — have been exposed at an anti-corruption hearing.
A secret phone recording has been revealed showing lawyer Megan Schutz, who worked for Mr Woodman, boasting about discussions she had with Treasurer Tim Pallas and Premier Daniel Andrews.
Mr Andrews last December denied he was close to Mr Woodman.
The bombshell recording is of a conversation between Ms Schutz and Mr Woodman in December, 2018, and was played during an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearing into political donations and planning processes.
The conversation occurred after Ms Schutz had been at a Labor event hosted by the party’s fundraising arm Progressive Business.
Ms Schutz said during the conversation that she thanked Mr Pallas for providing an introduction to the secretary of his department.
She said she also congratulated Mr Andrews on his thumping election victory.
“He (the premier) gave me a little kiss on the cheek and said, ‘say hi to John, Megan, say hi to John’,” she said on the recording.
Ms Schutz told the hearing that she had spoken to Mr Andrews on “numerous occasions at Progressive Business functions”.
This was partly enabled by lavish donations from developer Watsons, worth about $50,000-$60,000 a year.
“We got preferential treatment,” she said.
Ms Schutz said tickets to the Progressive Business Christmas function cost about $1500-$2000.
Mr Andrews didn’t come to most events held by Progressive Business, but did host smaller boardroom lunches.
This included one at the Flower Drum in 2017, revealed by the Herald Sun last year.
Ms Schutz said she had been to some events hosted by the Liberal fundraisers hosted by Enterprise 500, including one when the coalition was in government.
She said that event included then-planning minister Matthew Guy and his staff, and access was again granted thanks to political donations.
The head of a Cranbourne community group admits he failed to manage a conflict of interest created after Mr Woodman started paying him $5000 a month.
Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group president Ray Walker was instrumental in leading the charge to have Casey Council land rezoned from industrial to residential.
At the same time, he was being paid for work by Ferrari-driving developer John Woodman, who stood to gain a windfall from the land being rezoned.
Mr Walker told an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearing that work he was paid to do from mid-2016 included assessing housing sales in the Casey and Cardinia region, and that he had financial difficulties at the time of signing the work contracts.
He said that because the group’s interests to have the land rezoned initially aligned with the developer’s, he didn’t see a problem with taking the job.
The IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich asked Mr Walker whether he understood that by failing to properly declare and manage the conflict, other members of the community group couldn’t be sure that he was always acting in their interests.
Mr Redlich said there was a pattern that had emerged during hearings whereby witnesses described a “financial need that was satisfied by Mr Woodman”.
Mr Walker said he would have dropped the contracts with Watsons if he had been in a more secure financial position, citing his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis as one motivating factor.
He said early on in the process of setting up SCWRAG, it became evident that trying to get the land rezoned from industrial to residential land could be difficult without assistance.
“I believed that we couldn’t do it on our own,” he said.
The lawyer who worked for Mr Woodman has claimed his dealings with a Casey councillor created a “corrupt situation”.
Megan Schutz said she was asked to coach councillor Sam Aziz about a proposed upgrade to Hall Rd in Cranbourne West, with the beneficiary to be her and Mr Woodman’s clients.
Ms Schutz said she didn’t twig at the time that Mr Aziz’s willingness to put forward motions at council – despite knowing little about the substance of the matter being debated – was because of his relationship with Mr Woodman and the payments he had been receiving.
But under questioning from Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission chair Robert Redlich and counsel assisting the investigation, Michael Tovey, Ms Schutz said she later realised that there was a conflict kept from her that had created a “completely unsatisfactory” situation.
“It was a corrupt situation,” she said.
Last year, IBAC revealed that Mr Aziz had collected about $900,000 from Mr Woodman and his associated entities and that those payments were designed to get favourable decisions on planning matters.
Mr Aziz says the payments were for work he did for Mr Woodman and his company, Watsons, and they were not corrupt or for specific planning outcomes.
Her comments come after earlier claiming she was “used”.
Ms Schutz funnelled money to a residents’ action group in Cranbourne West on behalf of Mr Woodman, and was on a retainer to help get land in Cranbourne West rezoned from industrial to residential.
She also paid invoices sent to her by Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group president Ray Walker.
Ms Schutz said there were payments of about $5000 a month for two separate pieces of “work” Mr Walker was allegedly doing for Mr Woodman and his development agency Watsons.
The SCWRAG was seen by Ms Schutz and Mr Woodman as an important vehicle through which they could get council support for the rezoning of land – worth many millions of dollars to their client Leighton Properties.
When asked by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission why she was the one paying for Mr Walker’s work rather than Mr Woodman, Ms Schutz said there was no commercial reason for that strategy.
“I think on reflection, Mr Commissioner, that I was used by Mr Woodman,” she said.
But Commissioner Robert Redlich said to Ms Schutz that as someone expert on planning law and processes involved in developing property, she must have known what was happening.
Mr Redlich said Mr Woodman would have been attempting to obscure his links to the residents group, which were allegedly made to ensure their support for the rezoning of land.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearings are into allegations of serious corrupt conduct are focused on the integrity of planning and property development decision-making.
Last year, the IBAC was told that Watsons developer Mr Woodman or associated entities poured $1.2 million into the pockets of councillors Mr Aziz and Geoff Ablett to allegedly gain their support for projects in the City of Casey.
Mr Aziz — who is in Cairo and claims to be too ill to return to Australia to face the hearings — and Mr Ablett deny the payments were bribes.
Instead, they say they were paid to do jobs for Mr Woodman including to tend to race horses and to provide advice on smart cities.
The hearings are expected to further probe the use of professional lobbyists by companies seeking to influence government decision-makers.
This afternoon the IBAC will hear from Ray Walker, who was paid tens of thousands of dollars by Mr Woodman and his companies to provide advice on real estate projects in Casey.
Mr Walker was the president of the Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group, which was supportive of rezoning land from industrial to residential in that area.
A decision on rezoning, which is yet to be made by Planning Minister Richard Wynne, is one of three projects being probed by IBAC.
The proponents of the rezoning stood to make millions of dollars from the decision, known as the C219 amendment in Cranbourne West.
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