By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
In their desperation to fill the coffers before the March state election, the NSW Liberals took money from companies that looked a lot like property developers, who are prohibited donors under state law.
The NSW Liberals took money from companies that appeared a lot like property developers.Credit: Dean Sewell
But despite one cosplaying as a developer, and another building an office tower in years past, neither are technically prohibited donors, leaving the party’s can rattling in the clear, legally speaking.
In January, the Libs received $1500 from Chong Jian Construction Australia, a company which describes itself as “Sydney’s leading developers”, on a website decorated with pictures of shiny new apartment blocks.
If it looks like a duck ... so we thought. But Chong Jian told us they were a construction management company, not involved in property development, but solely the builder. A seemingly arbitrary distinction, totally against the spirit of the law, but one that stands.
Curiously, the company insisted they’d never donated to the party, and advised us to check our sources in a terse email. The NSW Electoral Commission’s website, where donations are published, suggests otherwise.
We had more questions about three donations, each worth $7000 made from Ducru Pty Ltd, Ducru Holdings Pty Ltd and Develco Pty Ltd, three companies owned by Josef Reisinger, who’s been in the property development game in decades past. In 2017, Develco was reportedly involved in work on an office block in Lane Cove.
Reisinger told us he was a “retired investor” and hadn’t been involved in property since 2005, and explained that the Lane Cove block was a passive investment, held for at least 15 years, and sold some time ago.
While the Liberals state director Chris Stone has previously complained about the onerous task of sorting out prohibited donors in real time, we hear anyone giving money has to fill in a form declaring they’re not a prohibited donor, and finicky looking companies in the construction game are usually double-checked.
“The NSW Liberal Party complies with our obligations under the relevant electoral funding laws and declares donations to the NSW Electoral Commission in line with those obligations,” a party spokesperson told CBD.
ASTRO BOY
Staying with the NSW Liberals for a hot minute, the party is finally set to pick a successor to the late Senator Jim Molan, who died in January.
With a vote due this weekend, the once crowded field has narrowed to a three-cornered race between former transport minister Andrew Constance, state Liberal president Maria Kovacic, and Space Industry Association boss James Brown.
Brown, who is divorced from Malcolm Turnbull’s daughter Daisy Turnbull, might seem a bit of a dark horse, lacking the factional backing that both Kovacic and Constance can enjoy. But he’s managed to secure a gold-standard list of references which were distributed to preselectors on Wednesday, chief among them, the highly-coveted endorsement of former PM John Howard, who praised Brown’s “exemplary” military service in a near two-page letter.
Andrew Constance is one of three vying for the late Jim Molan’s Senate spot.Credit: Janie Barrett
Howard might not be the campaign trail asset he once was, but is probably the only former Liberal leader to still command respect from all corners of the party
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop also threw her weight behind Brown, citing his experience in defence and national security.
Brown’s military background was a common theme among backers who want another ex-soldier in Molan’s old spot.
“Australia needs more senators with a lived experience of war, its consequences, and the institutional requirements to ensure our continued national security,” former NSW police minister David Elliott wrote in his recommendation letter.
Current state MPs James Griffin and Alister Henskens backed Brown, as did former Member for Wentworth Dave Sharma. And from outside the political world, Brown got endorsements from retired Major General Roger Noble and Australia’s first astronaut Paul Scully-Power.
It’s expected to be a close-run race this weekend, with Brown’s supporters hoping his non-aligned campaign can peel off votes from the parties moderate and conservative factions.
THE GRADUATE
NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham seems, for obvious reasons, like the kind of guy who spends a lot of time around lawyers.
So it makes sense to see an extra layer of legal expertise added to his upper house team, with One Nation’s newest MLC Tania Mihailuk graduating from her Masters of Law at the University of Sydney on Tuesday.
A day later, Mihailuk swapped the Great Hall for Parliament House, where she was sworn in. Mihailuk famously quit the ALP last year, and later defected to One Nation, claiming the state would go “woke and broke” under a Chris Minns government.
We’re still waiting on that one.
JIM’S HIRING
Lawn-mowing mogul Jim Penman has his critics, but he’ll always have a place in CBD’s heart, even if he didn’t quite come good on his threat to secede from Victoria and create his own country.
And never slow to spot an opportunity, Penman’s publicity team was out, barely 24 hours after the Gloomy State’s budget promised to give up to 4000 state public servants the chop, beating the drum for new recruits to his franchising empire.
“My advice to the 4000 public servants that [Premier Dan] Andrews is about to sack is – join us,” Penman said on Wednesday. “We will never turf you out like Andrews is about to.”
It’s unclear if recruits will be required to relinquish their Australian citizenship or sign up to Jim’s whacky ideas about race science and celibacy.
All that probably gets worked out in the fine print of the franchise deal.
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