By Clay Lucas and Royce Millar
Former state Liberal MP and Casey councillor Gary Rowe has conceded he should have declared a conflict of interest over a $10,000 donation from controversial planner John Woodman who was pushing a controversial rezoning at the time he made the donation.
The state’s anti-corruption watchdog also heard how Mr Rowe became a “friend” of an executive from property giant Leighton, which owned the Cranbourne West land and was pressing for it to be rezoned from industrial to the more lucrative residential.
Casey councillor Gary Rowe pictured in February before the council was sacked.Credit: Justin McManus
On Friday, Mr Rowe told the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission that Mr Woodman had handed him around $10,000 after a fundraiser at Crown Casino which was held ahead of the 2016 council elections.
“It was handed to me by Woodman and he said ‘These are the proceeds from ticket sales’,” Mr Rowe said of the money generated by the event, which Mr Woodman had organised.
Under questioning from IBAC principal lawyer Amber Harris, Mr Rowe agreed he had failed to declare the $10,000 when voting on the rezoning or any other planning matter in which Mr Woodman was involved.
Mr Rowe said he did not believe he needed to declare the donation because it was made up of multiple proceeds from tickets sold at $450 each. The threshold for declaring such gifts under the Local Government Act is $500.
Asked if he should have declared the money, Mr Rowe responded: “Perhaps in hindsight.” Later Mr Rowe said: “I’m sorry if I’ve done something wrong.”
Mr Rowe said he’d agreed to the Crown fundraiser in part because he understood Mr Woodman was donating to the election campaigns of many other Casey council candidates.
If Leighton, which employed Mr Woodman as its lobbyist, had won the rezoning bid, it would have generated tens of millions of dollars for both.
An email tendered to IBAC on Friday also revealed how Mr Rowe forwarded a message he got as a local councillor from a resident concerned over the proposed rezoning of the Leighton land to company's executive, Tom Kenessey. Mr Rowe asked Mr Kenessey how to respond to the resident. "Some points for reply would be helpful," he wrote to Mr Kenessey.
Mr Kenessey emailed back advising Mr Rowe on how to respond, with the Leighton executive eventually saying maybe no response to the resident was needed: "Why do you need to go back to them? Call me if need be on FaceTime, as I'm still in Bali."
Mr Rowe said the email exchange with the Leighton employee showed nothing inappropriate, but also conceded Mr Kenessey had become a friend.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, said the email was “really an example, Mr Rowe, of how a councillor can get captured by a principal player in a planning issue ... Mr Kenessey is trying to use you”.
IBAC's Operation Sandon is probing alleged planning-related corruption in south-east Melbourne. It is the most significant investigation into planning corruption in Victoria in decades. Key among the allegations is that Mr Woodman worked with Leighton Properties in a bid to get the industrial land in Cranbourne West changed to a residential zoning.
Landowners stood to make more than $100 million if the site was rezoned. Mr Woodman also stood to make millions if the Casey council convinced Planning Minister Richard Wynne to agree to the rezoning. Mr Wynne has not made a decision on the proposal.