NSW Premier Chris Minns will be referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
It’s in relation to a $5billion deal to turn Rosehill Gardens Racecourse into a housing development which was announced last December, Seven News reported.
The Liberal Party opposition has objected to the Premier Minns’ close personal friendship with an n Turf Club (ATC) official and the fact the proposed development was unsolicited.
The NSW government plans to transform the western Sydney racecourse into 25,000 homes.
The proposal was reportedly fast-tracked after an informal meeting between Mr Minns and ATC Head of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations Steve McMahon, who has been described as an old friend of the Premier’s.
A parliamentary committee examining the deal has voted to refer the fast-tracked project, which hasn’t even had full architectural drawings made, to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.
‘The committee is of the view that the premier should have declared a conflict of interest especially in light of the ICAC ruling on Operation Keppel,’ the committee report read.
Operation Keppel refers to the ICAC finding that former Premier Gladys Berejiklian engaged n serious corrupt conduct with her then-lover, former Liberal MP Darryl McGuire.
The scandal forced Ms Berejiklian to step down as premier and to exit politics altogether.
It will be up to ICAC to decide whether the friendship between the Premier and Mr McMahon has improperly influenced the Rosehill redevelopment.
Daily Mail does not suggest wrongdoing on behalf of either Mr Minns or Mr McMahon.
More to come.