Morris Iemma’s access to NSW Premier Chris Minns revealed
Former NSW premier Morris Iemma’s access to senior government figures, including Premier Chris Minns, has been questioned following new correspondence being revealed.
Former NSW premier Morris Iemma directly lobbied Chris Minns, ministers and senior staff over at least three major projects that were later placed on the government’s fast-tracked planning pathway, including a Kerry Stokes-backed proposal for more than 1000 units in Sydney’s west.
The revelations have raised new questions over the level of access Labor luminary Mr Iemma and his company, Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory, have to the state government.
New correspondence obtained by The Australian reveals Mr Iemma’s direct approaches to senior figures in the NSW government, including Mr Minns, as he attempted to troubleshoot issues for a range of developers counted among his clients.
Among the documents is an email from Mr Iemma to Mr Minns attempting to arrange a meeting with the Premier on behalf of Iemma client Vicinity Centres, with Mr Iemma referring to issues with the local council over a 1300-apartment proposal at Bankstown.
Among issues with Canterbury-Bankstown council raised by Mr Iemma was the local authority’s demands for increased office space in the proposed development.
In the March 7, 2024 letter to Mr Minns, Mr Iemma said he hoped to meet to “highlight the challenges” his clients “are encountering in navigating the NSW planning system”.
Ministerial diary disclosures show Planning Minister Paul Scully met Mr Iemma twice in April 2024, with his office saying neither regarded the Vicinity proposal.
Less than a year later, the Vicinity project was greenlit with state significant status in the second-ever meeting of the NSW government’s newly created Housing Delivery Authority, in February this year.
A state significance declaration allows a proposal to bypass council approval, with the determining authority instead the planning minister or planning department.
Two major projects were also placed on the state significant pathway after Mr Iemma directly emailed Mr Scully’s deputy chief of staff, Gino Mandarino, in 2023.
These included concerns over opposition to a proposal for more than 1000 units proposed by the Stokes family’s private investment vehicle, Australian Capital Equity, in Sydney’s west, which had faced pushback from the local authority.
Mr Iemma noted the project was “caught in delays and obstruction from Cumberland council”.
It was later given state significant approval.
A spokesman for the Stokes family confirmed Mr Iemma had acted for them on the proposal.
The other project on that list – Landmark’s development on Halifax Street at Macquarie Park – was highlighted as being blighted by a “constant … lack of urgency and support” by the local council.
A state significant declaration regarding the project and including plans for up to 900 units was greenlit at the same HDA meeting as Vicinity’s Bankstown project.
Disclosures published by the NSW government also show Mr Iemma met planning department officials over the Bankstown and Macquarie Park projects in January last year.
Further correspondence, part of a tranche of documents outlining correspondence between lobbyists and ministers and their offices, also shows Mr Iemma’s direct approaches to other ministers.
The former premier, who shepherded Labor to an unlikely election win in 2007, also wrote to Health Minister Ryan Park in July over concerns that the state’s planning system was slowing down new health infrastructure being constructed across the state.
Earlier this year he also sought a meeting with Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib, on behalf of client Ramsay Health, after the State Emergency Service delayed a proposal for redevelopment of Westmead Private Hospital over flood management concerns.
“This is the government’s Iemma dilemma: to provide a lobbyist unrivalled access to planning decision-makers, or put a factional powerbroker on the backburner,” Liberal MP and planning and environment committee member Jacqui Munro said.
Mr Iemma denied his standing in the Labor Party had benefited his company or his access to government.
“Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory advocates for projects based strictly on their merits and their contribution to the state’s housing, infrastructure, social and economic goals,” he said.
“We remain fully compliant with all disclosure and registration requirements under the NSW regulatory framework.
“Projects are assessed on their strategic and site merits in accordance with the relevant policy and criteria.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Scully said “any inquiries from Mr Iemma to the minister’s office are referred to the department for response or updates”.
“All assessment outcomes recommended to the minister for approval were determined by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure through its standard assessment processes,” she said.
“All meetings are disclosed as required on a quarterly basis and published on the Premier’s Department website.”
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