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A public servant at the centre of a conflict of interest allegation over the Newcastle rail cut was on a board that gave the state government $60 million to help make its decision.
Hunter Development Corporation general manager Bob Hawes was a member of the Hunter Infrastructure and Investment Fund board that earmarked the money for the government, while he owned properties nearby that could be affected by the decision.
He told the parliamentary inquiry into Hunter planning decisions that he owned a 50 per cent share in 1-9 Beresford Street and a 7 per cent stake in 780 Hunter Street.
Both properties are within a block of Wickham Station, where the government has decided to cut the train line and build a multi-million dollar transport hub that will connect to a light rail service into the city.
Mr Hawes was an ex-officio board member of HIIF in 2012 when it recommended that $60 million from the fund be made available to Planning Minister Brad Hazzard for deliberations over the fate of the rail line.
An ex-officio holds their place on the board because of another position they occupy.
In Mr Hawes’ case, he filled the role because he was the general manager of HDC, which recommended the rail cut to the government.
The Mercury asked him whether he had declared his property ownership when he took on the HIIF ex-officio position and what role he played in the board’s decision to earmark money for the rail truncation investigation.
Mr Hawes said he would not comment on the matter and would leave consideration of such issues to the inquiry.
The first inquiry hearing in Newcastle heard last week that Mr Hawes had declared his property ownership on HDC’s interests register when he became general manager in 2011 and during a previous tenure when he worked for the government agency up to 2007.
According to the state government’s submission to the parliamentary inquiry, HDC had recommended the rail cut after it conducted studies on behalf of the government on options for the revitalisation of the city centre.
HDC conducted stakeholder and community engagement that informed its recommendations to the government, the submission noted.