I did not pressure council, says NSW Liberal MP John Sidoti

City of Canada Bay councillors asked whether an email sent by former Berejiklian government minister John Sidoti was a veiled threat.

Former Berejiklian government minister John Sidoti. Picture: Joel Carrett

Councillors asked whether an email sent by former Berejiklian government minister John ­Sidoti was a veiled “threat”, as he pushed them to “deliver the ­vision” of shopkeepers — a ­vision that would have also ­benefited the Sidoti family’s property interests.

After pleading ignorance on his first day at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, telling the corruption watchdog he regularly signed legal documents without reading or understanding their content, during a heated hearing on Wednesday the Drummoyne MP was forced to deny that he had threatened City of Canada Bay councillors.

In an email tendered as evidence, counsel assisting the commission, Rob Ranken, took Mr Sidoti through an email he had sent to Liberal councillors on Canada Bay council, in Sydney’s inner-west, in which he strongly urged them to reconsider two ­requirements in the Five Dock Town Centre Urban Design Study.

“I can assure you there have already been a number of shopkeepers lining up to run for council next election if the proposal goes ahead in its current form and quite frankly I understand where they are coming from,” Mr Sidoti wrote on May 17, 2014.

Two days later, Mirjana ­Cestar sent an email to her fellow Liberal councillors, Michael Megna and Helen McCaffrey, questioning what the intention of Mr Sidoti’s email had been.

“Does it matter if shopkeepers want to run? Is John saying he would support them? Is it a threat? What is the point here?,” Ms Cestar wrote.

“I too am a bit worried about his comments re shopkeepers,” Ms McCaffrey replied.

ICAC is examining whether, between 2011 and 2018, Mr Sidoti tried to pressure Liberal council members to extend a rezoning proposal to include four properties in Five Dock held by his family’s self-managed super fund.

However, the former sports minister rejected the assertion that he had been trying to influence the councillors, let alone threaten them, before rebuking Mr Ranken for “cherry picking” sentences from the email.

“You may interpret any way you want. It’s not a threat. It’s merely stating the obvious and in concern for my Liberal colleagues,” Mr Sidoti said.

“You’re taking the lines that suit your argument. You’re not looking at that letter holist­ically,” he later said.

When asked by ICAC Commissioner Peter Hall QC what right he had to send the email to interfere in the councillors’ duties by telling them how they might exercise their public function, Mr Sidoti said he had a right “like any citizen”.

“We share the same constituency. So it’s only logical if I hear compliments, I pass them on. If I hear negative stuff, I pass them on. That’s what we did,” he said.

The disagreement over meaning wasn’t isolated, with Mr Sidoti repeatedly telling Mr Hall and Mr Ranken their interpretation of the wording in his emails wasn’t as it appeared

In another email to Liberal councillors, Mr Sidoti expressed his desire to organise a meeting to “form a united stance” ahead of an upcoming council meeting.

Mr Sidoti said he just wanted to “know where they stand on the issue”.