Labor leader pushed DA for corrupt union boss Michael Williamson

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has admitted he voted to approve an extension at the home of a disgraced union boss.

Michael Daley was a Randwick councillor in 2001 when he voted to approve the application by then Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson.

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has admitted for the first time that he voted to approve a major exten­sion to the Sydney beachside home of corrupt former union boss and former national Labor president Michael Williamson, despite local council staff warning against the development.

The NSW Opposition Leader, who is locked in a knife-edge election battle with Premier Gladys Berejiklian, made the admission to The Australian after Randwick council records linked him to the development approval process.

Despite previously claiming he had little or no involvement in it, council records show Mr Daley was commissioned by the council’s planning committee — which he chaired — to conduct a solo site visit two weeks before the development was approved.

Mr Daley, then a Randwick councillor, voted to approve the application in 2001 by Williamson, then the Health Services Union boss. Four years later, Mr Daley received a $50,000 donatio­n from the union for a state by-election campaign that began his parliamentary career. Labor at the time declared only $16,667 of the donation.

Mr Daley has told NSW parliament he barely knew Mr Williamson, who lived near Mr Daley in Maroubra and was a member of the local ALP branch from 1987.

Williamson was sentenced in 2014 to 7½ years in jail with a five-year non-parole period, after pleading guilty to several counts of defrauding the union of almost $1 million.

The Australian can also reveal that Mr Daley failed to disclose an interest in two multi-storey developments he approved as a Randwick councillor for a wealthy developer, despite the fact the developer­ had donated more than $50,000 to NSW Labor, including more than $3000 to the Randwick council Labor campaign.

Developer Steven Christofid­el­lis’s firm, Exceland Property Ventures, made two donations worth $45,760 to the NSW Labor Party in 2003-2004. Mr Daley’s office indicated last night that those donations were for federal Labor and said the Liberal Party had also received donations from Exceland. Mr Daley issued a statement to The Australian last night, finally admitting he voted for the Williamson development but denying any wrongdoing. His office said he could not recall visiting the Williamson home for an inspection, although council records show he was commissioned to conduct a site visit.

“The applicant for Meagher Avenue was a firm of architects Mah-Chut, not Michael Williamson,” Mr Daley said last night.

“At that time I would have known Michae­l Williamson as a senior member of the Labor Party and union movement.

“I had no association with him outside Labor Party functions and did not socialise with him priv­ately. I do not recall the specific DA as it was a relatively minor applic­ation for the enclosure of a carport with an addition on top.”

The Maroubra home of Michael Williamson.

The council records show Mr Daley, then deputy mayor, was one of several Labor councillors who voted to approve the development at 31 Meagher Avenue, Maroubra, despite council staff warning it set a bad precedent.

On February 13, 2001, the Health, Building and Planning Committee meeting of Randwick council, which Mr Daley chaired, resolved that “this application be deferred to allow for both the clarification of the discrepancy in the floorspace ratios and for the chairman to attend an on-site meeting”. The papers presented by staff to th

at meeting show “the applic­ant is seeking council approval to construct a first-floor addition over the existing garage. It is proposed­ to extend the roof of the proposed first-floor addition to create attic space. It is considered the proposal will detract from the character and appearance of the existing dwelling and the visual amenity of the streetscape.

“The application is recom­men­dation for refusal.”

The staff report also found the development was “excessive in bulk and scale” and an “over­development of the site” as well as setting an “undesirable precedent for further development on simil­ar buildings in the locality”.

A mayoral minute from Labor mayor Dominic Sullivan then went to council recommending approval. Dated February 27, 2001, it said that: “Council at its Health Building and Planning Committee Meeting on 13 Feb­ruary 2001 … resolved to defer the application to allow for both the clarification of the discrepancy in the floor space ratio and for the chairman (Mr Daley) to attend an onsite meeting” — indicating the meeting took place.

The council records show that, after development consent was given on February 27, councillors Greenwood, Matson and Whitehead “requested their names be recorded as opposed to the resolution of the council”. Mr Daley’s name was not recorded, proving he voted for the application.

One source told The Aust­ralian: “It was brought by way of a mayoral minute, which is a very unusual way to deal with development applications. Sullivan and Daley ran that caucus. They ran the numbers on DAs.”

In 2011, Mr Daley told Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph he “could not remember’’ the Will­iam­­son application but called the newspaper back to say he might not have voted for it and he might not have known it was Williamson’s home, as the DA was lodged in the name of the architects. “I have no recollection of the application and, if there’s no division­, it’s possible I voted against it,” he told the Telegraph.

Last month, Mr Daley told The Australian: “You covered this back in 2012. I don’t remember the applicati­on. The minutes of the meeting show there was not even a show of hands, it got carried on a resolution, I was one of 15 councillors. I don’t even know if I knew him. That’s all I can say.”

Yesterday, when asked if Mr Daley had conducted the site visit, Williamson’s former wife, Julie-Anne Williamson, said she had “no idea” but that Mr Daley “lived around the corner”.

Mr Daley said last night: “A repo­rt in the Southern Courier in 2011 notes that a council spokesman said the application was ‘done by the book’.

“It would appear I voted for the application, though I do not recall.

“Council minutes show three councillors as having recorded their names against the approval motion. It can therefore be inferred­ the 12 remaining councillors, including Liberal councillors, also formed part of the 12 that voted in favour.”

In 2013, Mr Daley made a personal explanation to the house where he protested against allegations that he knew Williamson well: “The minister for finance and services, in his speech in reply, raised a number of issues about me and Michael Williamson … the member also made the threat that in the coming months someone would raise issues about my relationsh­ip with Michael William­son. It will not take long, because there was not one.”