A report that found the Minns government failed to maintain impartiality in its championing of a controversial deal to turn Rosehill racecourse into housing has been referred to the New South Wales corruption watchdog.
The upper house inquiry released its report on Friday into a proposal to develop the racecourse in Sydney’s west into 25,000 homes. It found the government had not followed proper process in the early stages of its dealings with the Australian Turf Club.
The inquiry into the proposal was launched in May after documents were submitted to the legislative council which raised questions on whether the government was either leading or fast-tracking the project.
Liberal legislative council member Scott Farlow, who chaired the inquiry, said the report had been referred to Icac because of “significant conflicting information” that was presented throughout the investigation into the proposal.
“Given the nature of the conflicting evidence that the committee received and unanswered questions before the committee with respect to concerns regarding direct dealings and conflicts of interest, the committee has taken the step of referring this report to the Icac,” Farlow said.
The inquiry found the announcement of the proposal breached government guidelines on unsolicited proposals because, when championing the proposal, the government did not remain impartial.
It also found that in a diary disclosure by the premier, Chris Minns, a meeting with the head of the Australian Turf Club, Steve McMahon, was labelled a “meet and greet”. The inquiry found this was “misleading” and inappropriate given the pair’s longstanding friendship.
The committee wrote it had formed the view that Minns should have declared his “close personal” relationship with McMahon as a conflict of interest. They wrote this was particularly necessary in light of Icac’s ruling in Operation Keppel, which resulted in the finding of corruption against former premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Independent MP Mark Latham sought to have a chapter inserted in the report to find Minns had acted improperly and breached guidelines by not declaring a conflict of interest, including a recommendation the premier be personally referred to Icac. He was voted down by the rest of the committee.
The majority – excluding its three Labor MPs – instead supported a Greens push to refer the report in its entirety to the corruption watchdog.
The inquiry’s report was leaked to the media on Wednesday, with Farlow saying the privileges committee would investigate the leak.
Labor MLC Peter Primrose told media shortly after the report’s official release on Friday that the leaking of the report before it was tabled to parliament was “scandalous”, particularly because it suggested that Minns would be referred to Icac which was “not true”.
“The Icac is a very important institution, but to weaponise it brings it into disrepute,” he said.
“To say that this was the premier [that] had been referred, clearly that takes it into a different level, because that’s just not true.”
On Wednesday, Minns condemned media reports that the committee conducting the inquiry would call for him to be referred to the corruption watchdog as a “disgraceful” attempt to “politicise Icac with unsubstantiated rumours”.
“The allegations … are completely unsubstantiated and based on no fact or evidence,” he said in a statement.
Additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
