Warren Entsch’s $1.3m grant for ‘dear friend Pip Woodward’s’ charity to buy her land

Warren Entsch successfully lobbied the Morrison government to pay $1.3m in taxpayers’ money to a Cairns cancer charity to buy land already owned by one of its directors – an LNP donor and his ‘dear friend’.

Liberal MP Warren Entsch embraces COUCH co-founder Charles Woodward in 2016. Picture: Facebook.

Warren Entsch successfully lobbied the Morrison government to pay $1.3m in taxpayers’ money to a Cairns cancer charity to buy land already owned by one of its directors – an LNP donor and “dear friend” of the veteran Liberal MP.

An investigation by The Australian has found that five years after the 2019 election campaign announcement, the 2.26ha block in suburban Cairns is still vacant, despite the federal Health Department’s expectation the charity would purchase it and build accommodation for cancer patients.

The Health Department also confirmed it “had no oversight” over the decision to award the grant and that it did not go through its expressions of interest process, despite the money being paid out of the Morrison government’s $1.25bn Community Health and Hospitals Program.

In the early days of the 2019 campaign, Mr Entsch announced the government would invest $1.3m to buy land next to the existing Cairns Organisation United for Cancer Health (COUCH) wellness centre to build the patient accommodation.

The long-time MP for the far north Queensland electorate of Leichhardt said he had lobbied then prime minister Scott Morrison, then treasurer Josh Frydenberg and then health minister Greg Hunt, and other senior colleagues, to secure the funding.

Mr Entsch did not disclose in his written election announcement, however, that taxpayers would be funding COUCH to buy land owned by JK Woodward Pty Ltd, a company co-owned and directed by Cairns philanthropist and tourism industry figure Pip Woodward, who was a director and co-founder of the charity.

The land, co-owned by her late husband Charles’s siblings John Woodward and Anne Mills, was sold for $1.13m to the charity in Aug­ust 2019.

Charles and Pip Woodward had donated the adjoining 2.56ha parcel of land in Manoora in 2010, via JK Woodward Pty Ltd, on which to build the original wellness centre. The Woodwards founded the charity in 2006 and successfully raised money to bring forward the provision of oncology services at the Cairns public hospital in the city’s CBD by a decade.

Charles Woodward died from cancer in May 2017, and Mr Entsch told federal parliament shortly after that he had been a “dear friend, trusted adviser and absolutely inspirational leader in our community”.

Property records show the Woodwards put the second block of land on the market for 126 days from July 2017 for $990,000, advertising it as an ideal location for a subdivision, retirement village, or multi-dwelling unit or townhouse development. It failed to sell.

In response to questions from The Australian, Mr Entsch said following the donation of the first block, he and Mr Woodward discussed the remaining section. “The broader family owned the parcel of land and they were considering disposing of (it); they could put it on the open market or we could secure it for COUCH.

“It is reasonable the family should get something for the remaining parcel of land. It was valued and acquired with the $1.3m in funding to secure the future expansion of COUCH,” he said.

Pip and Charles Woodward with Mr Entsch and wife Yolonde. Picture: Facebook.

The Australian can reveal the grant application was not examined by the federal Health Department at the time, and it was not submitted through the expression of interest process that allowed state and territory governments to nominate projects.

Last year, the Auditor-General released a scathing review of the department’s administration of the fund, saying it was “ineffective and fell short of ethical requirements”.

Now the Health Department says the decision to approve the COUCH grant was made by the government of the day, and the department had no oversight of its approval – including the crossover between the ownership of the land and a director of the charity.

The department also told The Australian that the charity had failed to uphold the terms of the grant agreement by not constructing the remote accommodation.

“According to the Department of Health, COUCH was provided funding (through CHHP) to support the purchase of land and to facilitate the provision of the Cairns Remote Patient & Carer Accommodation Facility,” a spokeswoman said.

“The grant provided funding for the design and approvals for the development of the property. Under the grant agreement, COUCH are responsible to fund the build of (the) accommodation facility, and in turn operate the facility on their land, on the site purchased with the grant funds.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said his department was working with COUCH “on ­options” to deliver the remote ­patient and carer accommodation.

A COUCH spokeswoman told The Australian the charity had met its obligations to purchase the land and complete design and approval work. When asked why the land was still vacant, she said: “Covid had an impact on planning timelines for development and use of the land, with our efforts focused on safe delivery of care services given the sensitive health environment in a cancer wellness centre at this time”.

In April 2019, then-COUCH chair Ron Holden was quoted in Mr Entsch’s campaign announcement as saying a “suitable parcel of land for the development of such facilities was available adjoining the COUCH Cancer Wellness Centre site in Kauri Street at ­Manunda”.

“We are thrilled that this funding will allow for the purchase of the land and for COUCH to facilitate future accommodation for out-of-town patients in the same way that we facilitated the establishment of the Liz Plummer Cancer Care Centre with Warren’s assistance.”

Weeks later during the same election campaign, Mr Entsch officially opened the first stage of the COUCH wellness centre – which now provides allied health, oncology massage and yoga for cancer patients – with Ms Woodward, whom he described as his “dear friend”.

Public records show Ms Woodward (or her family tourism company CaPTA) donated $12,500 to the LNP and the Queensland Liberal Party in the 10 years prior to 2019.

John Woodward, who co-owned the parcel of land, donated $55,000 to the party in the same period.

In response to questions from The Australian, Mr Entsch said: “Your political bias is evident through your lazy gutter journalism … you’re a disgrace to your profession.”

Mr Entsch said he lobbied for the $1.3m in funding “just as I would any other project”.

He said it was not unusual that the Morrison government made the funding decision without Health Department oversight, and it was “certainly not unprecedented”.

Mr Entsch said he did not declare in his election announcement that the land being bought with taxpayer money was already part-owned by one of the charity’s directors because “there was no conflict of interest”.

Mr Entsch during question time in federal parliament in 2023. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The only people who have benefited are the community and cancer sufferers as we now have world-class cancer treating facilities,” he said.

He said the government was “well aware” of the proponents and landholders, through­­out the stages of the project.

“It was known and clearly articulated to government that the entire block of land on Reservoir Road was owned by the Woodward family – the plans and documents that informed the decision and previous commitments very clearly showed that,” he said.

Mr Entsch said the Woodwards did not need any special treatment from him, and were an “incredible local family … they are extraordinarily generous, and have given graciously in the pursuit of COUCH, among other philanthropic causes”.

The Woodward family did not answer specific questions about the grant application, Mr Entsch or future plans for the remote ­patient accommodation. In a statement, they said they were proud of their “fundamental role in the instigation of COUCH and the countless dollars’ worth of administrative, executive (and) promotional assistance it pro­vided to this vital community charity”.

“The Woodward family’s view of COUCH is that it is an organisation which is above politics and has received bipartisan support from government,” the statement said.

“Likewise, we have worked ­collaboratively with both sides of government to improve outcomes for the local community.”

COUCH chair Scott Davis said expanding the current wellness centre to include remote patient and carer accommodation, as well as to provide services into remote regions of far north Queensland, “will require significant investment”.

Dr Davis said the charity was working “closely with both state and federal governments”.

The board of directors had ensured there was “robust and responsible decision-making” and the charity was working with the Health Department to “continue to pursue economically viable ­infrastructure development”, she added.