Posted 3/3/08

 

 

Link:  SOS calls for inquiry

 

 

Hi SOS Members

 

After seven long years our efforts at exposing the practice of developers giving political donations and receiving favours from the Department of Planning have triumphed.  During this period the Sydney Morning Herald steadfastly refused to print any comments, letters or opinion pieces on the subject.  (In general, while 90% of my contributions on urban consolidation were printed in papers like the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Finance Review, North Shore Times, Courier and Advocate I was lucky to get the Sydney Morning Herald to print 5%).  Now the SMH is at last covering the subject of political donations.

 

Today the paper printed an article (copy below) which indicates that Frank Sartor phoned the chief executive of the developers Stockland to ask him whether the company intended to attend a dinner know as "Re-elect Frank Sartor Dinner".  The cost to attend would have been $8,000.

 
And on Saturday the paper printed the attached whimsical piece in the Domain section.
 
Of course the SMH never mentions Save Our Suburbs' role in exposing this practice to the wider public (see below regarding the start).
 
We still need to get this paper to acknowledge that the policy of urban consolidation is a fraud perpetrated onto the public, being driven by developer donations.  Tony Recsei, President, SOS (NSW)
 
 

Developers coughed up to dine with Sartor

 

Sydney Morning Herald

Andrew Clennell State Political Editor

February 18, 2008

 

FRANK SARTOR hosted a Labor Party fund-raising dinner attended by more than 30 development companies and which raised more than $500,000 - at the same time the Government was set to make decisions on development applications by some of those companies.

 

The Herald understands Mr Sartor, the Planning Minister, in a phone conversation with the chief executive of the Stockland Trust Group, Matthew Quinn, asked him if the company was planning to book a table to the dinner, known as the Re-elect Frank Sartor dinner, in February 2006.

 

Mr Quinn repeatedly refused to comment yesterday when asked if Mr Sartor had made the inquiry. "I can't comment on that," he said.

 

Mr Sartor's lawyers, Holding Redlich, said last night that any suggestion he used his position as a minister to solicit donations for the party would be false. It said that like all ministers, Mr Sartor attended a large number of functions each year, and that the specific dinner was attended by about 700 people from a range of backgrounds.

 

A spokeswoman for Mr Sartor said he had "no specific recollection" of the telephone call with Mr Quinn. The office had "no record of Stockland attending the fund-raising dinner held in February 2006. There is, however, record of a Stockland employee sending an apology".

 

NSW Electoral Commission records show the Labor Party received $8000 from Stockland for the function, indicating it may have paid for a table and then not attended.

 

Mr Quinn refused to comment yesterday when asked about the $8000, but he confirmed he did not attend the function.

 

Commission records show developers who attended the function included Mirvac (whose contribution was $12,000), Medich Property Group ($12,000), Roche Group ($12,000), Mars Australian Developments ($2750), Terrace Tower Holdings ($2750), John Boyd Properties ($2750), Johnson Property Group ($12,000), Australand Holdings ($12,000) and Kari and Ghossayn Pty Ltd ($12,000).

 

Others to attend included Grocon ($12,000), Multiplex ($5500), Mulpha ($12,000), Bradcorp Holdings ($2750), Rosecorp ($6600), Karl Kazal Developments ($8000) and Frasers Greencliff Developments ($6000).

 

The records show the dinner raised $513,847, but because it cost $317,488 to stage, net proceeds were $196,358.

 

The Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, who has mounted a concerted campaign to ban developer donations, said for such a fund-raiser to be held by a planning minister opened the Government up to perceptions of "bribes and corruption".

 

The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said: "The real damage done by these sort of functions is the sapping of public confidence in government decision-making."

 

A spokeswoman for Mr Sartor, Alex Walker, said: "The Minister and the Department of Planning rigorously assess all development applications on their merits, and those merits are the only consideration."

 

Stockland is involved with a $100 million commercial and residential development near Vincentia, approved by Mr Sartor last February. Grocon, Stockland and Mirvac are also expected to bid to develop the $200 million former Carlton and United Breweries site on Broadway, over which Mr Sartor took planning control last year.

 

 The Start

 

Seven years ago the public was not generally aware of the issue of political donations by developers.   In the Weekend Australian of 5-6 February 2000 I spotted an article "Developing Relationships" which reported on donations by shopping mall developers.  This triggered me to do research on the question of developer donations. In 2001 I appeared in Quentin Dempster’s Stateline program criticising the policy of Urban Consolidation with the then Planning Minister Dr Refshauge defending it. After Dr Refshauge had said his piece Quentin Dempster said "But Tony Recsei smells a rat" and featured me bringing up the developer donation issue.  I had given Quentin copies of information on donations lodged with the Electoral Funding Authority.
 
That program caused the facts to hit the fan, so to speak, and the next week Paul Keating and others took up the topic.  We continued our efforts to expose the practice and eventually the Greens, with their considerable resources, took it up and made it a big issue.