Standing Committee on State Development

Reports

Debate resumed from 10 May 2023.

The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (18:06:50):Allegations of impropriety against agents of the City of Canterbury Bankstown Council

As former Chair of the State Development Committee, I take note of the report entitled . I acknowledge committee members who participated and thank the secretariat and Hansard for their assistance during the inquiry. The short inquiry was requested by the former Minister for Local Government, Wendy Tuckerman. The report was handed down on 27 February 2023. The background to the inquiry was, among other issues, a result of allegations raised in New South Wales Parliament concerning planning matters at the City of Canterbury Bankstown council.

On 20 September 2022, the former member for Bankstown made a number of allegations in Parliament about planning matters of impropriety against agents of the City of Canterbury Bankstown council, as well as comments about councillor Khal Asfour's character and unprincipled actions in furthering the interests of developers and identities. On 21 September 2022, the former member for East Hills also made allegations in Parliament about planning matters at the City of Canterbury Bankstown council, particularly that council had improperly engaged with developers. There were also several media stories about the planning process of council, claims and reimbursements to councillor Khal Asfour, and the use of council funds for Asfour's Master of Business Administration degree and other expenses.

The committee held four hearings and heard from several witnesses, including former mayor Asfour, executive officers at the council and others. Those hearings and requests for documents brought to light issues concerning the relationship between councillors and property developers, such as property developers donating to local government elections in potential contravention of the law. It is worth mentioning a number of noteworthy procedural matters that arose during this inquiry, which included two requests for documents from the City of Canterbury Bankstown council.

After a lengthy exchange of correspondence, those requests resulted in the delivery of over 20,000 pages between 14 December 2022 through to 21 February 2023. Initially, the council advised that it would not provide the documents. As a result, advice was sought from the clerk of the council. The clerk's advice dated 13 December 2022 indicated his belief that the committee was on solid legal grounds to order the production of State papers. That advice is on the inquiry's website and is worth noting for future inquiries.

In the course of the inquiry, two witnesses were summonsed to appear after delayed response to several requests to attend. As an aside, it was found that Councillor Asfour misused council communication processes to announce his resignation from the NSW Labor upper House ticket. It is noted that the Hon. Bob Nanva is a beneficiary of that resignation as he was elevated to the upper House ticket and now sits in this Chamber. The inquiry made four findings and four recommendations that, essentially, serious allegations were made under parliamentary privilege and aired in the media, which had the potential to erode public trust in local government. The findings state:

Finding 1

There is evidence that Councillors of the City of Canterbury Bankstown Council have close relationships with property developers in the area. Furthermore, this has a strong potential to have influenced planning instruments and the positioning of infrastructure across the Canterbury Bankstown Council area.

Finding 2

Councillor Khal Asfour's expenses claims were outside the community's expectations.

Finding 3

The City of Canterbury Bankstown Council misused Council resources to assist a NSW Labor candidate.

Finding 4

The timeframe for the provision of documents delayed the committee's capacity to hold hearings and review documents. This has in turn affected the capacity of the inquiry to appropriately investigate allegations made by the member for Bankstown …

Out of the four recommendations of the inquiry, I particularly note recommendation 3, which states:

That the Office of Local Government review the:

Guidelines for the payment of expenses and provision of facilities to Mayors and Councillors in New South Wales

to ensure that they align with community expectations

Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in New South Wales

to ensure that the obligation to disclose pecuniary interests extends to overseas and interstate property interests.

I make a personal observation. Just because members can use parliamentary privilege to make a comment does not mean that they should. This was observed during one of the hearings. I will look out for the Government response to the report, which is due on 29 May. The inquiry report is now available.

Debate adjourned.

The ASSISTANT PRESIDENT (The Hon. Peter Primrose):

I shall now leave the chair. The House will resume at 8.00 p.m.

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