By Royce Millar
Former Casey mayor and state Liberal candidate Amanda Stapledon failed to properly declare tens of thousands of dollars in political donations over almost five years as the Casey Council considered planning matters that were likely to generate windfall profits for donor John Woodman and his developer clients.
On Monday Ms Stapledon told the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) that Mr Woodman donated $25,000 for her 2014 tilt for the state seat of Narre Warren North in Melbourne’s south east. He also hosted a fundraiser, bought multiple tickets at other fundraisers, and donated a helicopter ride for auction.
Amanda Stapledon in 2018.Credit: Paul Jeffers
She confirmed that through 2014 she failed to declare conflicts of interest on multiple occasions as the council considered a controversial rezoning of land in Cranbourne West spearheaded by Mr Woodman. The rezoning was likely to generate more than $100 million for him and his client, property giant Leighton, if approved by the council.
Ms Stapledon insisted she did not declare the donations because she did not want to identify her financial supporters to factional opponents in the Liberal party ahead of the 2014 state election.
But when she did start declaring a conflict in early 2015 she only mentioned Mr Woodman’s involvement in a couple of fundraisers, not the substantial donation of $25,000 to her ultimately unsuccessful election campaign in 2014.
IBAC also heard how Ms Stapledon was part of a team of about 10 council candidates bankrolled by Mr Woodman at the 2016 council election as part of a $100,000 campaign overseen by former mayor, Sam Aziz.
As part of Operation Sandon, IBAC has alleged Mr Aziz received almost $900,000 in allegedly corrupt payments from Mr Woodman. Mr Aziz left the country shortly after his home was raided by IBAC last year. He is now living in Cairo and claims to be too ill to return to Australia.
Ms Stapledon told IBAC she did not know at the time where the money for printing mailouts and advertising had come from, but later discovered it was from Mr Woodman. She estimated the benefit to her own campaign at about $4000.
She confirmed that, like most candidates on the Woodman-Aziz team, she never declared the funding of the 2016 council election campaign.
Ms Stapledon repeatedly blamed her own “sloppy” paperwork for the failure to properly declare conflicts, and denied doing favours for Mr Woodman, who had interests in multiple projects at Casey both as a consultant and through his connection to development company Wolfdene.
One project of interest to Mr Woodman was a dispute between Wolfdene and developer Dacland in the later half of 2018 about who should fund a road intersection known as H3 in Hall Rd Cranbourne.
John Woodman in happier days.
Ms Stapledon said she declared a conflict over that matter because of her association with Mr Woodman and did not play an active role other than seeking to resolve the dispute in the interests of the community. But telephone intercepts revealed that in discussions between her and Mr Aziz, they agreed they would work to implement ideas proposed by Mr Woodman about the H3 intersection.
The secret recording reveals Ms Stapledon agreeing to implement Mr Woodman’s ideas without knowing the detail and even though Mr Aziz explained the recommended the Woodman solution might cost the City of Casey hundreds of thousand of dollars.
The conversation between Ms Stapledon and Mr Aziz came soon after a private meeting in a Malvern restaurant between Ms Stapledon and Mr Woodman where they discussed her bid to be Casey's mayor. Mr Woodman has testified that he backed Ms Stapledon as mayor in 2018.
She confirmed discussing the mayoralty with Mr Woodman, who IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, described as a “kingmaker” at Casey. But Ms Stapledon denied that she did favours for Mr Woodman in return for his support for her as mayor.
IBAC also heard how Mr Woodman funded a special after hours program for the Blairlogie Learning Centre, which is attended by Ms Stapledon’s disabled son. The Woodman-linked development company Wolfdene was also a major sponsor of the Blairlogie service through its charitable Wolfdene Foundation.
In its annual report from 2016 and 2017, Blairlogie also notes the many years of help from Mr Woodman’s consultant planner and lawyer, Megan Schutz.
The hearings continue on Tuesday.