Victorian election: Developer ‘cultivated’ Daniel Andrews

Dealings between allegedly corrupt property developer and Daniel Andrews and his leadership team before they won the 2014 election explored by IBAC

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, left, and Premier Daniel Andrews at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

An anti-corruption investigation has focused on the association ­between an allegedly corrupt property developer and Daniel Andrews and his key frontbenchers in the 12 months before Labor won the 2014 election.

The Weekend Australian has confirmed one of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s key lines of inquiry in Operation Sandon ­explored interactions between the then opposition leader and his senior shadow ministers with businessman John Woodman throughout 2014.

Operation Sandon – a marathon investigation into allegedly corrupt land deals involving Mr Woodman and Casey councillors – has probed how throughout 2014 the businessman used fundraising events to cultivate relations with Labor’s leadership team in anticipation of Mr ­Andrews being elected premier.

From February 2014, IBAC ­believes the Woodman camp started working to influence state and council decision-making in favour of rezoning a tract of ­industrial land in the outer southeastern Melbourne council of Casey, known as C219, for residential development.

One of the fundraising events IBAC has focused on was a September 24, 2014, function at Crown casino organised by Labor lobbyist Philip Staindl. IBAC heard Mr Andrews and shadow minister and deputy Labor leader James Merlino attended.

Another 2014 Crown casino function, organised by the Woodman camp, which came to the ­attention of IBAC, was in April that year. It was organised to raise donations for Labor MPs.

During his evidence to IBAC, one of the MPs, Jude Perera, testified that he knew the event was organised by Mr Woodman and that at the end of the night the businessman presented each of the three candidates with an envelope containing a cheque for $10,000.

Confirmation that ­Operation Sandon has dug as far back as 2014, and the historic evidence is considered important by the anti-corruption agency, deepens the integrity crisis engulfing Mr ­Andrews just two weeks from the state election.

The Premier has been rocked by revelations he is a focus in an IBAC investigation known as Operation Daintree into the awarding of a multimillion-dollar training contract to a union. It’s the fourth anti-corruption investigation the Premier has been dragged into.

IBAC heard evidence during Operation Sandon, which has been blamed for the suicide of a witness, former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon, that in the months leading into the November 2014 state election the Woodman camp worked to develop relationships with the hierarchy of the Victorian ALP.

In his evidence, Mr Staindl told IBAC he arranged for Mr Woodman to interact with senior shadow cabinet members and the opposition leader, Mr Andrews.

IBAC received evidence that Mr Woodman organised and attended political fundraising events and other functions so he could spend time with shadow ministers Mr Merlino, Tim Pallas and Martin Pakula.

IBAC has considered evidence that soon after Labor won the ­November election, Mr Woodman focused his attention on trying to influence the new Planning Minister, Richard Wynne.

Now in office, senior Labor figures including Mr Pallas, and ministers Luke Donnellan and Jacinta Allan also became the focus of Mr Woodman, sometimes at events hosted by Labor’s fundraising arm, Progressive Business.

The deputy premier, ­attorney-general, minister for roads and minister for education were also a focus for the Woodman camp, according to IBAC.

During his secret evidence, first made public by The Australian on May 6, Mr Andrews ­acknowledged that over the years he had been to many functions organised to raise cash for Labor.

At the midpoint of the election campaign on Friday, the Premier’s political message was again overshadowed by questions over his government’s integrity.

The Premier left campaigning to deputy Ms Allan and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, who travelled to Sunbury on Melbourne’s outer northwestern fringes to spruik Labor’s $315m suburban parks program.

Ms D’Ambrosio faced questions over the probity of the tender process for the government’s $500m container deposit scheme, after Nine Newspapers revealed she had attended a Labor fundraiser hosted by recycling company Visy, which is bidding for a contract to run the scheme.

Labor is also under pressure over a series of fundraisers it has held with multicultural groups, featuring Mr Andrews and ­federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles as headline acts – one of which was in aid of Ms D’Ambrosio’s re-election campaign.

On Friday, she maintained the container deposit scheme tender process was being managed at “arm’s length” from government.

“The department, of course, will do what it does at absolute arm’s length from myself and from government. And really, that is it,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.