The ICAC blockbuster is back
In NSW, there’s no drama quite like an ICAC drama.
At times, it feels as if Sydney is ground zero of corruption in Australia. How much of that perception is down to the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s high-profile work, and how much is because our politicians, public servants and institutions may somehow be more prone to corruption? It’s hard to tell. But either way, we’ve had some blockbuster inquiries over the years.
Former NSW schools infrastructure chief, Anthony Manning, is the subject of the ICAC’s latest blockbuster inquiry. Credit: Janie Barrett
Who can forget the ICAC’s landmark investigations into former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald, Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly? Or the bottle of Grange that forced Barry O’Farrell to resign as premier? Or Operation Keppel, the inquiry into former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, which ended the political career of Gladys Berejiklian? And let’s not forget the sex-for-development scandal at Wollongong City Council.
However, a major inquiry is now under way into school infrastructure, and an even bigger one looms on the horizon involving the Hills Shire Council, the NSW Liberal Party and several property developers.
Education reporter Christopher Harris and state political reporter Michael McGowan have done a terrific job this week covering public hearings into allegations the former head of the NSW Department of Education’s school building unit intentionally subverted recruitment practices to benefit friends and business associates, and improperly awarded contracts to friends and business associates.
Anthony Manning, who headed the department’s school infrastructure unit from 2017 until last year, is the subject of the probe but others are in the ICAC’s sights, too.
In one example of alleged misconduct, counsel assisting Jamie Darams outlined the long relationship between Manning and a former colleague, Stuart Suthern-Brunt, whom Manning had met while they worked together in health infrastructure.
“They also went cycling together as frequently as every week, and later went to spin classes and yoga together. They met up regularly for coffees, breakfast, lunch, dinners and drinks, including with their partners. Mr Suthern-Brunt invited Mr Manning to his daughter’s 21st birthday party.”
Suthern-Brunt also got a contract job as acting executive director of infrastructure planning and was paid $2800 a day, or the equivalent of $644,000 a year. An equivalent public service senior executive doing the same job was paid $268,300 to $337,000.
The ICAC heard that after Suthern-Brunt left School Infrastructure NSW, a consortium called The APP Group, which included another company associated with Suthern-Brunt, bid for a multimillion-dollar contract for building prefabricated schools.
It is alleged that Manning personally intervened to prohibit two other companies from participating in the tender. APP was awarded the $39 million contract, which the Department of Education has since cancelled.
The investigation, known as Operation Landan, will hold public hearings for a further five or so weeks, and Christopher Harris, Michael McGowan and education editor Lucy Carroll will stay on the case.
Meanwhile, the ICAC is widely known to be digging into what promises to be a much bigger scandal: the nexus between the Hills Shire Council, the NSW Liberal Party and developers, including fugitive Jean Nassif’s now-defunct Toplace property empire.
We don’t know much, but what we do know points to something big: investigators from the ICAC conducted a series of raids, including on the home of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s brother, Charles, in 2023. The former premier has not been accused of any involvement or wrongdoing.
We also know the anti-corruption watchdog was given special powers that year to access illegally recorded private conversations in its investigation into claims that senior Liberals were involved in branch stacking to help Nassif secure development applications.
ICAC observers believe the whole drama could be the subject of public hearings not long after the agency wraps up its schools infrastructure inquiry. Now that sounds like a blockbuster ...
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