Daniel Andrews grilled in secret amid anti-corruption probe over links to property developer

Daniel Andrews faced a secret anti-corruption hearing and was examined on whether he was given a property developer’s phone number.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Brendan Beckett

Daniel Andrews has been questioned in a secret anti-corruption hearing over his association with a property developer under investigation for allegedly corrupt land deals.

The revelation confirms that the Victorian Premier has now been grilled twice by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in private integrity hearings. The Premier appeared in the confidential hearing held as part of Operation Sandon, IBAC’s marathon two-year inquiry into an alleged cash-for-access scandal involving a property developer, Casey councillors and Labor MPs.

Confirmation of Mr Andrews’ secret Operation Sandon examination comes a week after it emerged he was secretly grilled by IBAC in Operation Watts, a probe into branch stacking and misuse of public funds in the ALP.

The Australian can reveal that Mr Andrews was questioned about his association with property developer John Woodman, with one of the focuses of the hearing exploring if the Premier had been given his mobile phone number. Mr Andrews changed his position during his testimony on this point, at first agreeing Philip Staindl, a veteran Labor lobbyist who has worked closely with Mr Woodman, may have provided him with Mr Woodman’s phone number.

But in response to suggestions that this indicated he wished to apologise to Mr Woodman over a rezoning decision that didn’t go the developer’s way, the Premier told the IBAC hearing it was ­highly unlikely that he had requested or was given Mr Woodman’s number.

Ibac Hearing

While Operation Sandon initially focused on allegations Casey councillors made planning decisions benefiting Mr Woodman in return for donations, the IBAC probe expanded to cover Mr Woodman’s association with Labor ministers and the Premier.

IBAC is particularly interested in the fact that Mr Andrews and Mr Woodman attended the same fundraising political functions, with the agency focused on the question of whether substantial donations delivered privileged ­access at a ministerial level and the appearance of a sense of obligation to Mr Woodman from Labor MPs because of the substantial donations.

IBAC did not address detailed questions on Thursday about why Mr Andrews’ appearance was held behind closed doors, rather than in public. “The Operation Sandon draft special report is currently going through a natural justice process. This process provides people involved in the investigation with a reasonable opportunity to respond to material relating to them. IBAC will not making any further comment on the investigation,” a spokesman said.

An Andrews government spokesman declined to respond to questions relating to the hearing, including whether Mr Andrews’ lawyers had requested the hearing be held in private.

“The government will not comment on an active IBAC investigation,” the spokesman said.

Operation Sandon has investigated allegedly corrupt land deals between Mr Woodman and Casey councillors in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs. The probe, which began in 2018, was hit by controversy in January this year when former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon suicided just days after receiving her draft ­report from IBAC.

Friends and supporters blame IBAC’s decision to subject her to a public hearing and the drawn-out probe for her death, saying the process left her humiliated, paranoid and isolated.

Several warnings that Operation Sandon witnesses were a suicide risk were ignored by IBAC and the Victorian Inspectorate, which oversees the agency, for months and witnesses say they were only taken seriously after Stapledon’s death.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich. Picture: AAP

Confirmation that the Premier has now twice been given the right to be examined in private hearings, shielding him from public scrutiny, is likely to fuel controversy over the agency’s treatment of witnesses like Stapledon. A parliamentary committee has widened a schedule review of IBAC’s performance to cover witness welfare and its decision-making processes around holding public hearings in the wake of Stapledon’s suicide.

The Australian has learned that Operation Sandon’s focus on Labor MPs and the Premier has centred on the issue around a rezoning controversy over a large tract of industrial land in Casey, known as C219, and Mr Woodman’s alleged attempts to influence senior state politicians.

IBAC’s theory is that Mr Woodman sought to access and build relationships with senior state Labor Party members as far back as 2014, when they were still in opposition, and how Mr Staindl organised meetings with the shadow cabinet and the then opposition leader, Mr Andrews.

After Labor won the 2014 election, IBAC believes Mr Woodman hoped to influence the new minister for planning, Richard Wynne, and also maintained contact with senior ministers, including Treasurer Tim Pallas, Roads Minister Luke Donnellan and Transport Minister Jacinta Allen.

IBAC has closely studied how Labor’s fundraising body, Progressive Business, was often the forum used for Mr Woodman to obtain access to the Premier, Deputy Premier, Treasurer, ­Attorney-General, minister for roads and minister for education.

IBAC believes this was an attempt by Mr Woodman to create a sense of obligation within the Andrews government through donations and fundraising.

IBAC has noted that ultimately the Andrews government did not approve the rezoning application for C219, initially deferring the decision and later rejecting it, after stories appeared in The Age regarding the planning controversy. During his evidence, Mr Andrews’ was questioned about his association with Mr Staindl and said he had known the lobbyist for 20 years and described him as a long standing committed supporter of the ALP.

Critical to IBAC’s investigation have been two intercepted conversations between Mr Staindl and Mr Woodman, the first on October 18, 2018, in which the developer is recorded saying “between you and me, I know I said that I wouldn’t go to the boss, but if we get pushback on this I’m going to go to the top”.

In the second conversation between the pair, Mr Staindl, described a conversation to Mr Woodman he had with the Premier at a function in March 2019.

Mr Staindl, IBAC investigators learned, told Mr Woodman the Premier praised his contribution to Labor and expressed concern Mr Woodman was being pursued with allegations of corruption by a journalist who was an “arsehole”.

The IBAC investigators learned that Mr Staindl said the Premier asked him to apologise to Mr Woodman for the minister’s deferral of the C219 rezoning in the wake of The Age reports, and that the Premier had asked for his mobile phone number as he would like to call the developer.

Under cross-examination in his IBAC appearance, Mr Staindl conceded the conversation might have contained some hyperbole but he maintained the thrust of his account was correct. Mr Andrews is believed to have denied to IBAC that he referred to the reporter as an “arsehole”.

IBAC believes that Mr Staindl had an interest when speaking to Mr Woodman to exaggerate the Premier’s response to impress his client, but the agency believes key aspects of Mr Staindl’s recollection of his conversation with Mr Andrews are credible.

The Australian believes that Mr Andrews agreed during his IBAC testimony that as a lifelong supporter and fund raiser for Labor, Mr Staindl was unlikely to invent allegations against him.

Sources say IBAC believes that the “thrust” of the conversation was as Mr Staindl described, and that the Premier did make some references to The Age article, the deferral of C219 rezoning decision, and asked Mr Staindl to convey his regret that occurred to Mr Woodman.

It was put to Mr Staindl, during his examination, that Mr Andrews’ response may have been engendered by a sense of obligation because of Mr Woodman’s donations to the ALP – believed to be in the order of $210,000 to Progressive Business – and his personal interactions with the Premier. Mr Staindle agreed that the donations helped the developer gain access to ministers.

Much of Operation Sandon’s focus was on Casey councillors and their relationship with Mr Woodman, the draft report makes it clear the investigation has also investigated the developer’s links to the Andrews government as the developer worked to get the industrial land rezoned.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call: Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au; Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au