Liquidated security company chief linked to Blayney mine rebels
A controversial business operator is a director of a charity championed by the artist of a foundation with financial links to the Indigenous group associated with the Blayney goldmine ban.
An alleged serial “phoenixing” mogul is the director of a charity championed by the artist of the blue-banded bee mural, a foundation with financial links to the Indigenous group that successfully petitioned for the closure of the Blayney goldmine.
The Wayne Weaver Foundation is a charity that supports incarcerated Indigenous Australians, the favoured cause of gallery owner Birrunga Wiradyuri.
The Australian can reveal that investigated private security contractor David Millward is a board member and director for the WWF.
Mr Wiradyuri’s Bathurst Post Office mural was touted by the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation as an independent corroboration of the Dreaming story it submitted as proof of cultural heritage that would be irreparably ruined by the establishment of the McPhillamy’s goldmine.
The Australian has previously reported Mr Wiradyuri consulted with WTOCWAC members on the artwork and was a member of the group at the time that it was created.
This masthead also uncovered a significant loan between the WTOCWAC and the WWF.
WTOCWAC member Bill Allen is also listed by the WWF as a one-time board member.
Mr Millward formerly ran Unified Security, a private security operation that provided guards to the NSW and Victorian hotel quarantine schemes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, Unified Security was identified as a key cause of the escape of Covid-19 from hotel quarantine in Victoria, an inquiry finding guards from the firm were so poorly trained that they did not know how to perform even basic functions of their jobs.
Unified Security collapsed into liquidation in June 2021, the latest private security operation run by Mr Millward to be identified by a senior NSW public servant over alleged “phoenixing” of his former manpower businesses.
A liquidator’s report found Mr Millward and his former business partner and Earlwood resident Luigi Trunzo ripped $20m from their security business in the lead-up to its collapse through loans and dividends, with warnings the two men tried to disguise their involvement in Unified Security through other directors.
Mr Millward had earlier tried to edit corporate filings to show his sister, Sandra Millward Pratt, was instead the owner of his stake in the company after an error “due to insufficient supervision of junior staff”.
The former prison guard had also previously registered businesses in the name of his elderly mother who had dementia.
Mr Millward, who worked in NSW Corrective Services for 15 years, sold his former home in South Maroota in 2021 before moving to an upmarket four-bedroom house in the NSW central coast suburb of Long Jetty.
The former mixed martial arts trainer, who coached Tongan former Manly rugby league player John Hopoate, holds investments in several companies.
Mr Millward is listed under Australian Securities & Investments Commission records as a director for the WWF from October 2021, which coincides with the financial year in which WTOCWAC provided the WWF with a $28,000 loan that was unpaid in full, according to the last visible Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations records.
It comes nine months after the last available financial and information statements were provided by the WWF to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. The WWF has been overdue in its mandatory reporting since June 2022, the entirety of which sits under Mr Millward’s tenure with the charity.
The Australian is not suggesting Mr Millward was responsible for either correlation, and is not accusing him of any financial wrongdoing. The WTOCWAC, the WWF and Mr Millward were all approached for comment. None responded to inquiries.
The WTOCWAC loan is the only of its kind provided by the community group in FY22 or FY23, and is sizeable in comparison to its annual FY23 profit of $40,577. The WWF’s most recent FY20 financial figures indicate the charity incurs $43,000 in annual expenses, meaning WTOCWAC’s loan would cover more than half a year of costs.
According to the ACNC, the WWF has not submitted mandatory financial statements and information reports since January 2021, meaning there is no visible record of the charity’s finances since receiving the WTOCWAC loan. It also means accurate finance and governance information regarding the charity have been elusive since January 2021 and overdue since June 2022.
The charity is now at risk of double defaulter, a form of forced administration considered by the ACNC after two years of overdue statements.
Legally, the ACNC was not authorised to comment on whether it was considering such action against the WWF.
While government records do not list Mr Wiradyuri as a listed member of the charity, his business partner, Suzanne Goodchild, is a director. She also served as a member of WTOCWAC from June 2023 to at least August 2024.
The WWF’s website has been shut down, with the last recoverable instance dated to April 16.
It previously listed Birrunga Wiradyuri and the charity’s namesake, formerly incarcerated artist Wayne Weaver, as patrons.
It also mentions four extra board members who are not registered with the ACNC: Uncle Bill Allen; former NSW Greens candidate Madonna Thomson; psychologist Clinton Schultz; and boxer Feleti Leone.
Mr Millward previously employed former NSW Police Media manager Tim Archer as his crisis communications manager.
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