At last! After 5 years, many witnesses including Premier Daniel Andrews and court challenges from the developer at the centre of the operation, John Woodman, IBAC has finally released their report on Operation Sandon.
For those who aren't familiar with this; Operation Sandon was an investigation conducted by IBAC into allegations regarding corrupt conduct by councillors and property developers in the City of Casey. The allegations centred on property developer John Woodman and claim that he had paid money to a couple of councillors to get them to advocate for his property interests at council meetings.
This investigation led to the sacking of Casey Council in 2020 as information leaked out that there had been several incidents of improper conduct however it also could be speculated that it played a part in the death of former Casey Mayor Amanda Stapledon in 2022.
For this to take 5 years is something quite astonishing and while the pandemic played a part in various delays, it didn't help that the developer at the centre of the allegations kept launching court action so this report couldn't see the light of day.
After the last bid by Woodman to prevent the release of the report failed on Monday, IBAC finally acted and released the report yesterday, thus giving us an insight into what actually happened. What Operation Sandon found was quite staggering.
Operation Sandon found that Woodman had paid Cr Aziz $600k in exchange for promoting his interests at council meetings. It also found that Woodman had paid Cr Ablett $550k in exchange for promoting his interests at council meetings. If that wasn't bad enough, it also found that Woodman had influenced other councillors through indirect support and those councillors in turn had failed to declare donations along with conflict of interests.
What Operation Sandon has essentially done is provide an insight into what happens when lobbyists and developers are allowed to actively influence local councils to try to secure favourable planning decisions. It also is an insight into how it works at a state and at a federal level. The additional problem here is that it shows that people with money can get into rooms with people and gain influence while it locks out the average person who isn't as influential and/or doesn't have the money. Welcome to pay-for-play politics!
Operation Sandon made 34 recommendations which do make for interesting reading however alarm bells also ring with a couple of the recommendations.
Recommendations 8 & 11:
These two recommendations put together don't just scream alarm bells, they scream massive power grab. Essentially these two put together are designed for councils to cede planning powers to the State Government. On the surface, you know, it's not the worst suggestion in the world but then you dig a bit deeper and it actually makes you squirm.
Hypothetical Scenario: Let's say you have a Planning Minister who has a potential conflict of interest regarding who they have to consult with over projects. That planning minister has a relative who works for a consulting company and they can lobby the Minister regarding projects that impact council boundaries. Under these recommendations, the councils would have no say whatsoever but the consulting company would be able to lobby and potentially influence the outcome even though the project might fall under inappropriate development for the area.
That hypothetical scenario I outlined could've become reality last year when the Andrews gov't did a reshuffle that put Lizzie Blandthorn as Planning Minister. The conflict of interest was her brother John-Paul Blandthorn being a director at ALP-linked Hawker Britton. Hawker Britton could've influenced the Planning Minister to grant approval to a project that could be considered inappropriate development for the area and councils would've had no say despite this blatant conflict of interest.
There are two other problems with these recommendations 1) Instead of Planning Developers like John Woodman influencing councillors at the local level, we now want them to be influencing Gov't Ministers and MPs and no one sees a problem with that.
How is influencing councillors bad but influencing Gov't Ministers and MPs not bad?
2) Would you want that sort of planning power in the hands of a gov't that lacks integrity, hates accountability and opposes anything that might give some sort of semblance of transparency? Yes, that gov't currently exists in Victoria and again, apparently, we're supposed to be ok with this. Not now, not ever, especially under the Andrews gov't!
Recommendation 23:
This recommendation is the most astonishing one that I've ever seen in a review. Basically, we want to put an end to en bloc voting in council meetings.
How the hell could this possibly be policed?
Essentially we're opening up the possibility of people complaining about votes because certain councillors voted the same as each other.
Example: Yarra City Council have 9 councillors, 3 of whom are Greens members. When an issue comes up that requires a vote concerning a proposal that could potentially have an impact on the environment, all 9 councillors (which includes the 3 Greens members) vote against the proposal because of environmental impact.
In the above example, this vote would not be allowed because everyone voted the same even if they all held the same belief about this proposal.
How in the actual hell can that be justified? 9 councillors hold the same viewpoint on a particular issue and all vote a certain way and that's not allowed. Give me a spell!
Premier Daniel Andrews has already come out and said that "while we'll carefully analyse the recommendations, we're certainly open to taking planning responsibilities off councils."
Of course, he said that because that would mean more power for the gov't and that's a good thing, right? Wrong!
This is one of the most dangerous things that could be allowed to occur as a gov't that has already trashed norms over the last 9 years would be given unfettered power to make planning decisions, especially given construction is due to start on the very contentious Suburban Rail Loop First Stage from Cheltenham to Box Hill.
Such power CANNOT be concentrated in the hands of a gov't such as this; a gov't that doesn't care for democratic norms; who hate the idea of being held accountable and above all, a gov't that has basically destroyed the independence of so many things that should be Independent.
Operation Sandon has exposed some nasty corruption for which you would anticipate criminal charges to be forthcoming but some of these recommendations have the potential to unleash worse when it comes to planning.
Victorians should be concerned but unfortunately, all of us (myself included) have been asleep at the wheel while we've allowed the power of this gov't to grow.
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