ICAC to probe Lib MP John Sidoti’s ‘councillor lobby threats’

The NSW corruption watchdog will ­explore whether former ­Berejiklian government minister John Sidoti tried to lobby councillors by ‘threats or otherwise’.

Liberal MP John Sidoti and his legal team arrive at his ICAC hearing in Sydney on Monday. Picture: Christian Gilles

The NSW corruption watchdog will ­explore whether former ­Berejiklian government minister John Sidoti tried to lobby councillors by “threats or otherwise” in a bid to overturn independent expert planning advice, enabling him to develop adjoining properties owned by his family.

In the first day of the public hearings into Mr Sidoti, the Independent Commission Against Corruption was told between 2013 and 2017, the Five Dock MP tried to advance the private ­property interests of his family using his position as a NSW MP in a bid to sway rezoning decisions in his favour

Counsel assisting the commission, Rob Ranken, said the evidence suggested Mr Sidoti had arranged and attended meetings with Canada Bay Liberal councillors to discuss the Urban Design Study, how the councillors “might decide the issue” and, on occasion, “what motion they should move”.

“The inquiry will consider … whether the Liberal councillors were subjected to any improper influence or attempt to influence them in the exercise of their public official functions,” Mr Ranken said on Monday.

“(It) will also explore whether Mr Sidoti used his position as the Liberal member of state parliament, and the concomitant access to the Liberal councillors that he was able to enjoy, in order to influence those counsellors, whether by threats or otherwise.”

Mr Ranken said the public hearing would also explore whether Mr Sidoti purported to represent the “concerns and interests” of his constituents when he was actually pursuing his family’s private property interests.

Commissioned by Canada Bay Council, the Urban Design Study engaged independent experts to explore the optimal way of ­developing Five Dock’s town ­centre. It was completed in Nov­ember 2013 and the panel proposed ­rezoning several sites as an expanded mixed zone, which would have changed development controls.

In the initial public exhibition, a Waterview Street site owned by the Sidoti family was not included in the rezoning proposal.

In his opening statement, Mr Ranken said rezoning this area was considered by the indep­endent expert panel to be ­“undesirable” and to have “no public benefit”.

Mr Sidoti disagreed.

Instead, in April 2014, three months after the public exhibition, he attended a meeting held at the Five Dock Chamber of Commerce in his ­capacity as state member, before seeking to ­arrange a meeting with all four Liberal council members before the council’s next ­consideration of the Urban ­Design Study.

On seven separate occasions between November 2014 and February 2017, towns planners representing the Sidoti family made representations to the council seeking to have the ­Waterview Street site included in the expansion of the area to be ­rezoned.

Moreover, while the MP was attempting to influence planning decisions, Mr Ranken said, the ­Sidoti family purchased property adjacent to the existing lot using a shell company called Andal­ease Pty Ltd, which had been ­created on the same day that contracts were exchanged in October 2014.

The sole director and shareholder was Mr Sidoti’s sister.

In addition, less than a year later, more property was purchased along the same block by other members of the Sidoti family, Mr Ranken said

The failure by Mr Sidoti to disclose his pecuniary interests in two Five Dock properties over several years will also be explored by the corruption watchdog, Mr Ranken said.

A deliberate failure to disclose the matters would be a “substantial breach” of the NSW ministerial code.

“That means that a substantial breach of the ministerial code may give rise to a finding of corrupt conduct under section eight and section nine of the ICAC Act,” Mr Ranken said.