THE head of the Department of Planning now says she was told of Hunter Development Corporation general manager Bob Hawes’ Wickham property holdings before attending her first HDC board meeting during which Mr Hawes briefed her on city rail changes.
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Department secretary Carolyn McNally, who was appointed to the job in July, told a recent parliamentary inquiry hearing that she could not recall whether she knew Mr Hawes owned a stake in properties near where the new Wickham interchange will be built, before she attended the September HDC board meeting.
‘‘Does that mean you were not aware and you were not told?’’ Greens MP and inquiry member David Shoebridge asked.
‘‘That would be correct,’’ Ms McNally replied.
But, in an answer lodged with the inquiry on December 5, Ms McNally said she had checked her records and ‘‘determined that I was advised of Mr Hawes’ interest on August 1’’ by a department officer.
She reiterated no decisions were made at the meeting, adding ‘‘Mr Hawes’ interests were not material to discussions’’ about where the government was up to with its plans.
She referred other questions back to the HDC board, and the department did not directly respond to a question about when the Planning Minister was told of Mr Hawes’ interests.
Other documents lodged show Ms McNally’s predecessor, director general Sam Haddad, referred a copy of Mr Hawes’ declaration of his interests to the department’s director of governance in early 2013 with a note ‘‘for info?’’.
Mr Haddad also authorised the two-week public exhibition period earlier this year for changes to the city’s local environment plan that included increased building heights for the UrbanGrowth-GPT site.
In a briefing note from his department, Mr Haddad was told that the public had already been consulted about broader changes to the city’s planning framework, and the further changes to heights proposed ‘‘are not complex’’.
It appears Mr Haddad was the author of handwriting on the note that says ‘‘would like to expedite please – can both be completed 3-4 [weeks] after close exhibition’’.
Ms McNally told the inquiry that UrbanGrowth had not written to the department about the length of the exhibition period.