Daniel Andrews ‘waxed lyrical’ about allegedly corrupt donor

Daniel Andrews requested the phone number of an allegedly corrupt property developer to say ‘things are okay’, according to an intercepted phone call.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on Thursday. Picture: Getty Images

Daniel Andrews requested the phone number of an allegedly corrupt property developer to say “things are OK” and thank him for state election donations, according to a secretly recorded phone call between a lobbyist and a donor.

Labor aligned lobbyist Phil Staindl further told John Woodman that the Victorian Premier had “waxed lyrical” about his contribution to the seats of Ringwood and Ferntree Gully at the 2018 state election.

The evidence to the Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission comes as Mr Andrews on Thursday maintained he did not speak to Mr Woodman about his projects.

In the phone call on March 4 in 2019, Mr Staindl said he had recently approached Mr Andrews at a small dinner.

He said he told the Premier Mr Woodman was avoiding events run by Labor fundraising body Progressive Business because of media scrutiny over the developer’s push for land in Cranbourne West to be rezoned.

“He [Mr Andrews] said that’s a load of [inaudible] … he’s more than welcome to come back and then said ‘I’ll give him a call and have a chat’,” he said.

“He’s just going to give you [Woodman] a call to basically say ‘things are OK’ but also to thank you for your support because he started waxing lyrical about how much you’ve given to the party.

“I said I actually think you [Woodman] were the single biggest donor in the seat of Ringwood and the seat of Ferntree Gully … And he [Andrews] said ‘Ringwood paid dividends big time didn’t it?’ ”

Labor candidate Dustin Halse ousted incumbent MP Dee Ryall from the seat of Ringwood at the 2018 state election, securing a 7.7 per cent swing in a shock upset.

In the phone call, Mr Woodman said he had not received a call from Mr Andrews but said he understood the Premier was busy.

The property developer has been accused of bribing two City of Casey councillors in a bid to have rezoned from industrial to residential land in Cranbourne West, reportedly donating more than $150,000 to Labor in 2018.

In the phone call, Mr Staindl said Mr Andrews said the rezoning became untenable when a journalist from The Age began investigating the proposal.

“He [Andrews] said ‘Royce [journalist] is a right arsehole or something … he said fancy trying to make the City of Casey out to be a sanctimonious organisation,” he said.

“I said are you aware that the rezone he was working on … was torpedoed or shelved?

“He [Andrews] said ‘We had no choice but to do that once Royce was working on that story, and it was a critical final couple of weeks of the campaign’.”

On Thursday, Mr Staindl told the hearing he believed he had a couple of glasses of wine and couldn’t recall with certainty what was discussed.

“I’m just saying there may have been a ­little bit of spice in it,” he said.

On Thursday, Mr Andrews said he stood by his earlier comments that he had never spoken with Mr Woodman about his projects.