Ex-Howard minister Warwick Smith used China meeting to lobby Gladys Berejiklian on Barangaroo

Gladys Berejiklian was lobbied on a visit to China in 2018 over delays in starting work at Central Barangaroo by former Liberal politician Warwick Smith, an inquiry has heard.

Former Liberal politician Warwick Smith, now executive chairman of AL Capital and Aqualand Australia.

Aqualand chair Warwick Smith lobbied then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian over delays in the Central Barangaroo project in a “courtesy meeting” but rejected claims he used his position to get a better deal.

Appearing before the NSW parliament’s select inquiry into the Barangaroo Sight Lines, Mr Smith, a former minister in the Howard government, said he lobbied the premier over the project in a bid to push it forward.

The committee heard Aqualand Australia chief executive John Carfi told Barangaroo Delivery Authority CEO Craig Van Der Laan in December 2018, that Mr Smith would speak with Ms Berejiklian about Central Barangaroo.

“Warwick is in China and he‘s going to try to speak to Gladys today,” Mr Carfi said.

Mr Smith said this message was in relation to the meeting he had set up in China, in which Ms Berejiklian met a number of business figures including Aqualand director Jin Lin and the group’s founder Yi Lin.

“We were investors and we were waiting to be able to take action on our investment, it was a matter of how long is it going to take?” Mr Smith said.

He said he took an interest in resolving the Central Barangaroo project, which was being led by Grocon.

“I had no expectation I was required to do anything other than to say, hey get on with it so we could use the development funds that were still held by the state government,” Mr Smith said.

Aqualand, which entered the Australian market in 2014, invested in the harbourside development in Central Barangaroo alongside Melbourne developer Grocon.

Grocon secured Aqualand and Scentre as consortium partners in its $420m bid for Central Barangaroo.

Grocon chief executive Daniel Grollo, in his submission to the parliamentary inquiry, claimed Aqualand is headed by “an enigmatic figure known to Grocon only as ‘the Chairman’ (formerly a high-ranking officer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army)”.

Mr Smith said he was appointed chair of Aqualand in July 2018 to resolve a number of investment decisions made by the Chinese property development company but took no role in the later purchase of Grocon’s stake in the Central Barangaroo.

Grocon sold its stake in Central Barangaroo to Aqualand for $73m, but is suing the NSW state government alleging it deliberately withheld planning permits, resulting in a $270m shortfall on the potential sale price.

Infrastructure NSW did not issue Grocon a sight lines notice, which would have clarified the envelope in which the developer could construct its buildings in Central Barangaroo.

One day following Aqualand’s purchase of Grocon’s stake, INSW issued the sight lines notice, in a move former senior public servant Tim Robertson previously told the committee was aimed at not interrupting the sale process.

“We did a transaction and the transaction was acted upon and that’s what Mr Grollo wanted,” Mr Smith said.

“To somehow suggest there was an improper motive by people involved like myself is just not correct.”