by Cam Lucadou-Wells
An IBAC recommendation to ban property developers from making political donations remains up in the air.
The State Government has announced it will accept most of IBAC’s 34 recommendations arising from its Operation Sandon inquiry into Casey Council and property developers.
On 20 March, Premier Jacinta Allan announced the Government would accept 32 of them in full or in-principle.
However, IBAC’s recommended ban on political donations from “high-risk groups” such as property-developers is still being considered.
It follows a recently-released report by the state’s Electoral Review Expert Panel which found prohibiting donations by property developers was “unnecessary”.
“Victoria’s disclosure requirements and low general cap on political donations make it unnecessary to introduce bans on donations from particular industries,” the Panel stated.
It found there were “significant policy and administrative challenges” to such a ban, such as the cost and burden of doing background checks of donors and determining what industries an organisation belonged to.
‘At the moment, there does not appear to be a clear, established policy rationale for determining which industries a ban should apply to,” the panel stated.
“Industry-specific bans may unreasonably slur or stigmatise an industry.”
IBAC’s Operation Sandon report found developer John Woodman had “invested” across political parties and levels of government through donations of different guises.
Former Casey mayors Sam Aziz and Geoff Ablett were especially highlighted for accepting more than $1.15 million in payments and in-kind support from Woodman.
They were found to promote Woodman’s interests in several key planning decisions at Casey without declaring their conflict of interest.
Woodman was also found to cultivate influence at state government level, paying lobbyists and donating generously to Labor and Liberal party coffers.
He’d also funded 11 ‘friendly’ candidates’ campaigns in the Casey elections in 2016, and was linked to a community residents action group funded by developer Leightons.
IBAC stated that a developer donation ban in Victoria – which is the case in NSW and Queensland – would have “legitimate purpose”.
The property development industry was one of the biggest donors in federal politics – about $54 million in disclosed donations from 1999-2019.
However it was conceded that Victoria’s general cap of $4000 over four years reduced the ability of a person to make an “exceptional” donation.
Banning developers arguably may be counterproductive and push donations “underground”, IBAC stated.
Meanwhile, the State Government partially accepted the proposed creation of an interdepartmental taskforce to oversee the recommendations’ implementation.
It didn’t support the taskforce making quarterly progress reports to IBAC, stating it was “not appropriate”.
“Significant policy development and legislative change is ordinarily subject to Cabinet consideration.”
The taskforce will report back to the public within 18 months.
Many of the recommendations were accepted by the Government as part of its Housing Statement, which will shake up the state’s planning system.
As a part of this, it will look at taking planning decisions out of councillors’ hands.
The Government has already announced reforms at local councils, including mandatory training for councillors, a uniform councillor code of conduct and more powers for the Local Government Minister against errant councillors.
It’s yet to be seen whether Aziz and Ablett will face criminal charges.
IBAC has powers to refer alleged criminality to the Office of Public Prosecutions to make that call.
Both councillors and Woodman have denied wrong-doing.
