The former mayor of Casey council, Susan Serey, failed to declare a conflict of interest on up to 16 separate occasions in her dealings with the allegedly corrupt consultant John Woodman as she voted to back his push for a contentious and lucrative rezoning.
Ms Serey was presented with evidence at Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) hearings of her failure to declare a conflict after receiving donations from Mr Woodman in 2014 and then again 2018 when she ran for state parliament as a Liberal candidate.
The last meeting of Casey council after it was sacked last month. Mayor Susan Serey embraces members of the public.Credit: Justin McManus
The IBAC hearings heard that Ms Serey received a $10,000 donation from Mr Woodman as well as up to $16,000 worth of election mail-outs for her 2018 state election campaign. Ms Serey disputed the size of the mail-out support.
Mr Woodman was a consultant who was pushing for a lucrative rezoning in Cranbourne West through Casey Council on behalf of major developer Leighton. Casey Council supported the contentious rezoning including with the support of Ms Serey.
The rezoning would have delivered a windfall profit of more than $100 million to Leighton, now known as CIMIC, and millions to Mr Woodman. The rezoning has yet to be decided upon by state planning minister Richard Wynne.
Ms Serey was both a local councillor and a candidate for the Liberal Party at the 2014 and 2018 state elections. She repeatedly denied having a conflict of interest and said she was unaware Mr Woodman or his firm, Watsons, were involved in the Cranbourne West rezoning push, although that information was included in a 2014 council report.
When asked if she had failed to properly inform herself, she replied that “the (council) reports can be very long. I rely heavily on the executive summary. I can’t be across every detail, I can’t."
Failure to declare a conflict of interest is a breach of the Local Government Act that can result in fines of up to $20,000 per breach.
Ms Serey denied having a close relationship with Mr Woodman but was presented with evidence, including Whatsapp exchanges from 2018, in which she asked Leighton executive Tom Kenessey to request support from Mr Woodman for her campaign for up to 19,000 mail-outs. Ms Serey said she was aware that Mr Woodman and Mr Kenessey – who she was on friendly terms with – knew each other “but I didn’t know their business links”.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, asked Ms Serey why she had absented herself from two meetings involving Mr Woodman’s interests and had been aware of her conflict since 2015 but still voted on proposals linked to him on numerous occasions.
She replied she “did not perceive there to be a conflict". She said most times she "forgot" to absent herself.
Property developer John Woodman in happier days.
The IBAC hearings have heard in recent months how Mr Woodman made large, allegedly corrupt payments to both Casey councillor Sam Aziz and another former councillor Geoff Ablett. Ms Serey said she had fallen out with Mr Ablett in 2014 and said she was unaware of the secret payments from Mr Woodman to Mr Aziz.
“I didn’t know he had a conflict of interest,” she told the commission.
Ms Serey also said Casey council should not have been sacked last month by the state government. “I think we were treated unfairly and we were sacked prematurely in my opinion,” said Ms Serey of a report by monitor Laurinda Gardner which recommended the council's dismissal. Ms Serey had been a councillor since 2012.
In evidence to IBAC, Ms Serey also defended a decision by the council to grant leave to three councillors including Mr Aziz. One councillor was on bereavement leave for losing their child and another became a carer for his wife, she said. Mr Aziz was "away on business and it was a legitimate reason at the time”.
She said while councillors were not in favour of extending Mr Aziz’s leave they felt they had no choice.
“The legal advice basically said we cannot refuse leave unreasonably," she said, adding that he had provided a medical certificate. “We reluctantly gave him leave but we had to.”