Crown-Lendlease Barangaroo sight lines to be subject to NSW inquiry

The NSW parliament will pore over secret deals done between the government and Crown-Lendlease over the Barangaroo casino tower.

James Packer at the $2.4bn Sydney casino project being built by his company Crown Resorts, making a visit to Sydney to tour the facility for the first time. Picture Rohan Kelly

Secret deals and meetings between Crown, Lendlease, and the NSW government over views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from Crown’s Barangaroo tower could be revealed after the NSW Legislative Council established an inquiry on Tuesday.

The committee of inquiry will force a series of examinations of current and former members of the NSW government and its departments over the handling of the development of Central Barangaroo.

The inquiry, which will feature six members of parliament, will review the “probity” of decisions around Barangaroo and the rights given to Crown and Lendlease to limit the height of other buildings in the precinct.

It would also examine the unsolicited proposal put forward over lunch between Alan Jones, James Packer, and former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell in 2012 to build the casino.

NSW Legislative Council member Mark Latham, who moved the motion on Tuesday, said the committee needed to get to the bottom of “wrongdoing” in Barangaroo that now sees the state exposed to a $270m court claim.

“This is potentially to identify crony capitalism at its worst,” he said.

Grocon has launched legal action against the NSW government in the state’s Supreme Court, alleging the state withheld crucial rulings on its proposed project for Central Barangaroo that caused it to sell its stake for $73m to fellow developer Aqualand.

Grocon claims it was dudded out of as much as $270m from the sale of the Central Barangaroo project to Aqualand.

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The developer has alleged the NSW government withheld a ruling on the size of buildings that could be built in Central Barangaroo knowing it was going to sell its stake.

One day after Grocon sold its stake in Central Barangaroo the NSW state government issued rulings to Aqualand, clarifying what it could build in the precinct.

Mr Latham said there were many questions around the long delayed Central Barangaroo project, which had resulted in a “massive hole in the ground”.

He said it was crucial to understand what kind of deal the NSW government made with Crown and Lendlease in August 2019 to settle a court dispute between the two sides.

Crown and Lendlease had taken the NSW government to court, claiming it had failed to consult them over Grocon’s development, alleging the proposal would block sight lines from the gaming company’s tower of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Mr Latham, who will chair the inquiry, said the Central Barangaroo development was “so poorly managed” it had resulted in a “massive hole in the ground” after years of delays in Sydney’s flagship urban renewal precinct.

Labor member Anthony D’Adams, who will be deputy chair, said there were “serious questions about the extent to which there was political interference in the decision making of INSW in relation to the Central Barangaroo project”.

“It is not the role of government to play favourites where competing commercial interests are at play,” he said.

Mr Latham told parliament former NSW premier Mike Baird’s staffer Tim Reardon had sent an “extraordinary” memo to Infrastructure NSW chief executive Simon Draper telling him Aqualand was “the best opportunity” to deliver Central Barangaroo.

“The government is seeking to manipulate arrangements between companies for the benefit for an outfit, Aqualand, who had as their principles Warwick Smith a well known Liberal party operative and donor,” Mr Latham said.

“That is an extraordinary intervention by government that should be neutral in these types of arrangements.”

Mr Latham said the committee should also examine a meeting between Mr Packer, the former Crown boss and Mr Baird.

“It was set up like a Henry Kissinger détente summit,” he said.

The committee will report by December 20 this year.