NSW Premier Chris Minns locks sights on Latham vendetta and vested interests in ICAC riposte
The NSW government has drawn battle lines over calls for Premier Chris Minns to appear before ICAC, lumping the Greens and Coalition in with ‘corrosive’ MLC Mark Latham.
The Minns government has singled out beleaguered former Labor leader Mark Latham as the instigator of a bid to refer NSW Premier Chris Minns to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, suggesting he led a parliamentary committee astray in an “ugly”, “unsubstantiated” vendetta.
Mr Latham, an independent MLC, was the primary suspect after a parliamentary inquiry report into the Rosehill Racecourse housing proposal was selectively leaked ahead of time, with a swath of Labor frontbenchers facing the media on Thursday to point out Mr Latham’s alleged vested interests in torpedoing the project.
Slated for release on Friday night, the report says Mr Minns should be hauled before the ICAC, contending the plan to build 25,000 homes and a new Metro station at the Australian Turf Club site was tainted because of Mr Minns’s close friendship with ATC government relations head Steve McMahon.
Mr McMahon sought out the Premier in October 2023, and has known Mr Minns for more than two decades. Neither has made efforts to obscure this relationship.
Located in the northwest of Sydney, the Rosehill Racecourse proposal is seen as a critical part of Labor’s plan to meet runaway housing demand, alongside instituting its Transport Oriented Development Program and developing a “third CBD” around the Western Sydney airport.
Mr Minns strenuously denied any wrongdoing on Wednesday night, and was backed by members of his caucus who described the ICAC referral as a “baseless political stunt”.
On Thursday, the Premier doubled down, saying Mr Latham’s attempt at undermining the government devalued ICAC and would stop more Australians from entering politics.
“We have seen the politicisation of ICAC for a long time in NSW. That doesn’t make it right,” Mr Minns said. “I think that is a leading indicator of why more people don’t enter politics, because if you put your head above the parapet, someone like Mark Latham is likely to come along and besmirch your character, accuse you of corruption and, most importantly, stop you from advancing what could be a great idea for Sydney.”
He also accused Greens and Liberal inquiry committee members of “dancing to the tune of Mark Latham”.
“This is what makes it so corrosive when a parliamentary inquiry effectively gets hoodwinked by someone like Mark Latham, because it undermines and corrodes community confidence in … ICAC,” he said. “(It is) almost impossible to build housing in the most expensive city; (any attempt) is met with stonewalling, bureaucracy, red tape or allegations of corruption.”
When approached for comment, Mr Latham referred The Australian to remarks he made on X. “Minns is delusional in saying the committee is dealing in ‘unsubstantiated rumours’,” he said.
“Minns should have declared a conflict of interest due to his close personal relationship with McMahon and not met with him. For a real estate deal this big, the Premier should have met with the chair and CEO of the ATC and sent them through the normal planning process.
“By the Berejiklian precedent, he must be referred to ICAC for these breaches.”
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park suggested the referral was a “political stunt”, while Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council Penny Sharpe said she would “throw the book” at any parliamentarian found to have leaked confidential information.
“This is the Greens and the opposition in cahoots with Mark Latham over a range of different agendas, where they are suggesting that something has gone wrong here,” she said.
“What degree are (committee members) prepared to go to try and not only put the kybosh on this opportunity but also just to smear people trying to do good things and put ideas in the public arena?”
She called the committee’s decision a “new low” in the history of ICAC referrals. “This (leak) is an extraordinary breach of the protocols and the rules in which we operate in relation to parliamentary inquiries. This report is supposed to be provided publicly … the fact that its contents have been selectively leaked means that really it’s just a political stunt from the Greens and the opposition being led by the nose by Mark Latham, who has his own agendas in relation to Rosehill that has nothing to do with housing,” Ms Sharpe said.
“I will always look at whether we can throw the book at people in relation to this.”
Greens upper house member Cate Faehrmann, who was a member of the inquiry committee, pushed for the report to be referred to ICAC. She refused to comment ahead of the report’s publication.
“I’m not going to say anything until it’s officially released tomorrow,” she said. “It shouldn’t have been leaked.”
Even before the ICAC referral, which the corruption watchdog has no obligation to pursue, the future of the Rosehill development was under question.
ATC members will be asked to vote in April on whether they would offer the racecourse site up to the state government, following the election of a board that is generally hostile to the sale.
At the December board election, more than 57 per cent of voters supported candidates opposed to the development, though fewer than 20 per cent of eligible members cast a vote.