New checks after corruption probe takes ten
Tails of dodgy developers and paper bags stuffed with dirty funds have shaken NSW politics, and a new inquiry seeks to check the foundation of the dubious building approvals.
Revelations at ICAC corruption inquiries have brought down ten members of the NSW Liberal Party in recent weeks, finding several instances of local MPs taking illegal donations from developers in exchange for help with project approval.
NSW Upper house Greens MP David Shoebridge is now pushing for an official inquiry into the planning decisions themselves, and reports say it is likely to receive adequate backing to occur.
Mr Shoebridge has told Fairfax Media that there is “strong commitment from a majority of MPs” to back the motion he will put forward on Tuesday.
He says the inquiry will look at several contentious planning decisions such as the planned removal of the Newcastle heavy rail line and the installation of the city’s light rail network.
The bid for a fourth coal loading terminal at the Port of Newcastle would be checked too, along with the Mount Thorley Warkworth mine project and a large housing development near Lake Macquarie.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation Spicer has taken down a string of MPs, but Mr Shoebridge wants some of the deals checked before ground can be broken.
“This [inquiry] is looking behind the closed doors of some of those key planning decisions which are intended to shape Newcastle and the Hunter over the coming decade,” he said.
“There is enormous community disquiet about how these decisions were arrived at, and which special interests potentially had the inside running.”
Reports say the proposed inquiry has some support from Labor and is backed by crossbench MPs from the Shooters and Fishers and Christian Democratic parties.
If it goes ahead it will likely be chaired by Christian Democrat Fred Nile, with two of six committee members drawn from government ranks and two from the opposition.
Hilton Grugeon., the part-owner of a company behind the $23 million Lake Macquarie housing development, says his company certainly did not make donations to political candidates to win support for his developments.
He told ICAC investigators that he had “never supported anyone for a favour” and it would be “scurrilous” to suggest otherwise.
Former Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy, also a developer, admitted he made political donations but said they were not to buy influence.
McCloy also said he did not declare the donations because “I don't like my name being put against any political donations anywhere”.
Calls continue for the creation of a court that could look at corruption within federal political parties, after the Federal LNP was strongly linked to the dodgy deals in NSW.