By Sophie Aubrey and Clay Lucas
Melbourne Water ignored repeated recommendations to publicly disclose a potential perceived conflict of interest in its Maribyrnong River flood inquiry, months before the probe was plagued by scandal.
Emails and documents from Melbourne Water, obtained by The Age under freedom of information, reveal the flood inquiry’s former chair, Nick Wimbush, identified the risk of a perceived conflict of interest three weeks before his appointment was announced in December last year. They also show both he and a probity adviser recommended it be disclosed.
Melbourne Water’s flood inquiry became trouble-plagued this year.Credit: The Age
The emails also cast fresh doubt on the independence of Melbourne Water’s flood review, despite repeated insistence from the Andrews government to the contrary, with the water authority seeking approval from a government minister and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning before responding to questions from The Age in February.
Wimbush, a planning expert, was the sole person on a controversial 2015 panel that resulted in the removal of the one-in-100-year flood overlay on land owned by the Rivervue retirement village in Avondale Heights.
The amendment, requested by Melbourne Water following a suggestion by the property developer, led to retirement villas being built on land that was formerly designated as flood-prone.
Forty-seven retiree homes were later damaged in the Maribyrnong River disaster, which hit more than 600 properties in Melbourne’s inner north-west in October.
Wimbush resigned as chair of Melbourne Water’s flood inquiry in February after The Age published revelations of the seven-year-old planning switch over Rivervue.
Emails now show that Wimbush told Melbourne Water he recalled his involvement in the planning change after reviewing some of his past work.
“This was an oversight given the minor nature of the panel and the large number of matters I have done over the years,” Wimbush wrote in his November 24 email to Melbourne Water.
Former chair of the flood inquiry Nick Wimbush.
Wimbush said he did not know if any properties affected by the planning amendment had been flooded.
“My logical brain says it is an issue that can be solved by early disclosure but I would also understand if you consider it would be not appropriate for the independent lead role to have had such involvement, even some years ago,” Wimbush wrote.
“Apologies for raising this now – but better than in a few weeks.”
The freedom of information documents show Melbourne Water then consulted a probity adviser, who also recommended that the possible perceived conflict of interest should be documented and publicly declared “at the earliest opportunity” during the flood inquiry.
Staff at the government-owned water authority had already nominated Wimbush as the preferred candidate to lead their inquiry and pushed on with their choice.
In January, a month after Wimbush’s appointment, Melbourne Water managing director Nerina Di Lorenzo told The Age he would be “a very good independent chair, and has a lot of experience in this space”.
“We’ve got probity auditors over the top of the process to just make sure it’s clear and transparent,” she said.
However, the perceived conflict of interest was never declared, until The Age’s report.
Wimbush has not responded to requests for comment.
Emails also show that Melbourne Water was communicating directly with a government minister’s office about Wimbush’s potential perceived conflict of interest after receiving questions from The Age on February 6.
That day, a Melbourne Water staffer told the minister’s office that out of “an abundance of caution and in good faith”, Wimbush would not be involved in reviewing matters related to Rivervue. “That is a ‘belt and braces’ approach,” they wrote.
However, a decision was soon made for Wimbush to instead resign from his position. On February 7, Melbourne Water sent its statement about Wimbush stepping down to the minister’s office and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning for approval, before providing it to The Age.
That afternoon, a Melbourne Water employee wrote that they had given the “MO (minister’s office) a heads-up we will be sending them a revised statement asap”.
About an hour later, Melbourne Water sent a draft to the minister’s office and the department requesting “urgent approval”.
Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing.Credit: Chris Hopkins
The minister’s office edited the statement, including removing a reference to Wimbush’s resignation being in the “best interests of the review and the community”.
A spokeswoman for Victorian Water Minister Harriet Shing on Monday night insisted on the independence of the review.
“As is the usual process, the minister’s office receives regular updates from Melbourne Water on their operations, including media announcements,” she said.
Melbourne Water did not respond to questions about its independence, but claimed it did not act on its probity adviser’s disclosure recommendation about Wimbush because the work of the flood inquiry panel had not begun.
Melbourne Water and Shing have repeatedly insisted that the water authority’s flood inquiry is independent of the Andrews government.
“This is an independent review and the review of what occurred with the Maribyrnong flooding event needs to be undertaken at arm’s length from government,” Shing said on February 13.
She also shot back at criticism in parliament by saying that anyone who suggested Melbourne Water was not operating independently was, by inference, suggesting the same of institutions such as courts and tribunals.
Melbourne Water’s flood inquiry has been mired in controversy since it was revealed it would not examine several matters, including urban planning and early warning systems – despite its system failing to alert residents to the oncoming deluge until the morning it hit.
A separate parliamentary inquiry was established after extensive reporting by The Age, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers teaming up to launch a wider-ranging flood review.
Liberal Party MP David Hodgett labelled Melbourne Water’s inquiry “a sham”.
“This is an insult to the people of Maribyrnong, who were promised an independent review of the floods,” Hodgett said.
Greens MP Ellen Sandell said the revelations were “very concerning to anyone who cares about good governance and transparency”.
“The Melbourne Water inquiry ... was an exercise in deflecting blame,” she said.
“The state Labor government wants to sweep their failures under the carpet and doesn’t want any criticism of their flood response.
“It seems that the Melbourne Water inquiry never really was independent.”
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