IBAC: $10,000 for developer’s dumplings with Daniel Andrews
You can buy a lot of dumplings for $10,000, even at the Flower Drum. But for property developer John Woodman it was a price worth paying.
You can buy a lot of dumplings for $10,000, even at the Flower Drum.
But for property developer John Woodman it was a price worth paying because it also bought him an intimate lunch with Dan Andrews.
Having won the luncheon with the highest bid at an earlier ALP fundraising auction, Mr Woodman and a small group of associates, including Labor-linked lobbyist Philip Staindl, gathered at Melbourne’s most famous Chinese restaurant on September 13, 2017.
Mr Staindl briefed them about the ground rules for the lunch; a precondition of the Premier’s attendance was an embargo on raising any specific planning issues with him. Rather, this should be seen as a relationship-building exercise.
But IBAC has obtained evidence of something that the Woodman camp intended to raise with Mr Andrews. But the agency has found no evidence of any specific conversations having occurred. The exact nature of the topic has not been disclosed.
During his evidence before a secret hearing as part of Operation Sandon, the agency’s two-year investigation into allegedly corrupt land deals in Casey, the Premier recalled the Flower Drum luncheon but said he had no recollection of Mr Woodman or his associates raising any such matters with him.
Nevertheless, the Flower Drum luncheon forms part of a narrative IBAC calls “privileged access” in what rates as one of the most significant findings from Operation Sandon.
IBAC has concluded that Mr Andrews and Mr Woodman’s attendance at such functions illustrates the opportunities for “privileged access” at a ministerial level that the Woodman camp attained and is directly linked to the substantial donations made over time.
IBAC has likened the cash-for-access strategy as an approach to “investing across the political spectrum” and has estimated that, between September 2010 and June 2019, the successful developer donated $969,968 to both major parties.
Enterprise Victoria, a Liberal fundraising body, received $266,995 while Labor’s Progressive Business pocketed $210, 290.
IBAC has estimated that Mr Woodman donated $113,500 towards six Labor and Liberal candidates in the 2014 state election and $56,335 to three candidates from both parties leading into the 2018 election.
From February 2014, IBAC has concluded, Mr Woodman and his associates sought to influence state and Casey council decision-making in favour of rezoning a big chunk of industrial land known as C219.
Labor was in opposition then but, in anticipation of Mr Andrews winning the next election, the Woodman camp worked hard to build relations with future Labor ministers.
Mr Staindl told an Operation Sandon hearing that he arranged Mr Woodman to connect with significant members of the shadow cabinet and Mr Andrews.
By 2016, Mr Woodman felt comfortable enough and, along with Mr Staindl, approached the Premier at a number of functions and briefed him on Mr Woodman’s wish to expedite implementation of planning decisions on his project, Aviators Field, at Point Cook.
IBAC has focused heavily on the activities of Mr Staindl, a veteran Labor lobbyist.
IBAC has come to the view that Mr Staindl played a significant role in building a “sense of obligation” within Labor resulting from Mr Woodman’s donations to the ALP.
Despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and hours spent schmoozing Mr Andrews and his ministers, Mr Woodman, IBAC recounts, learnt a harsh political lesson after two reports in The Age highlighted his political donations to Labor.
Following the articles in October and November 2018, IBAC concludes, Mr Woodman was dropped by Labor MPs who avoided any overt association with him and he was no longer welcome at political functions, including Progressive Business events. But, luckily for Mr Woodman, IBAC points out, the property developer was represented by Mr Staindl and another associate at such functions.
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