By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Former Casey mayor Susan Serey did not declare a conflict of interest relating to developer John Woodman’s role in Amendment C219 on multiple occasions, IBAC’s Operation Sandon inquiry has heard.
It was “never my intention” to vote on the matters, given Mr Woodman had donated to her two state election campaigns, she told the hearing.
She argued she didn’t “perceive” a conflict of interest because she didn’t realise or remember Mr Woodman’s links to the matters.
On 1 April 2014, Mr Woodman and developer Leighton Properties announced their bid to rezone 203 hectares of Cranbourne West industrial land in letters attached to a council report.
“I don’t think I would have read those appendices,” Ms Serey told the IBAC hearing.
In October, the matter was reconsidered by the council after Ms Serey was preselected to run as a Liberal candidate in Narre Warren South in the 2014 state election.
Mr Woodman had donated to her campaign but she failed to “perceive” a conflict of interest at the time.
“Because in the report there’s actually no mention of Woodman and (his company) Watsons.
“At the time I did not remember that there was an attachment with his name on it in the 1 April meeting.
“Later, subsequently in these reports, Watsons is not mentioned in any of the reports.”
She didn’t declare a conflict of interest on the “approximately” 16 occasions that C219 was considered at a Casey council meeting between February 2014 and October 2018, IBAC senior lawyer Tam McLaughlin told the hearing.
Ms Serey walked out before a C219 vote in 2015, following the lead of colleagues Amanda Stapledon and Geoff Ablett who declared conflicts with Watsons.
However she didn’t declare a conflict, nor raise her situation with the council’s CEO or governance officer, IBAC heard.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich pressed Ms Serey on why she later remained present at “some eight or nine” motions that led to the council supporting the rezoning.
“I didn’t perceive there to be a conflict of interest,” Ms Serey said.
“Because my fellow councillors mentioned him, that’s what triggered me to get out.”
Ms Serey similarly walked out after Ms Stapledon and Mr Ablett declared conflicts with the Woodman-linked Pavilion Estate proposal in Clyde in April 2018. Again, she didn’t declare a conflict.
She told IBAC that she didn’t realise Mr Woodman’s links with Schutz Consulting and developer Wolfdene who were mentioned in the council report.
Schutz Consulting was run by Mr Woodman’s planning consultant Megan Schutz. Mr Woodman’s son Heath was a director at Wolfdene.
“At the time I obviously didn’t think I had one.
“But, as you can imagine, I was very busy at the time and I don’t think I read the full reports in this instance.”
She said it was “not reasonable” to expect councillors to be across the full details of every report.
“I rely heavily on the executive summary, which is the officer’s report, the ward councillors and the community if they have contacted me.
“But 600 pages or even 300 pages is a lot to get through, and I can’t just be across every detail. I just can’t.”
Apart from reading the reports, she hadn’t taken extra steps to identify which matters were Woodman conflicts, she told IBAC.
She said she was unlikely to have discussed the matter with Mr Ablett and Ms Stapledon while outside the council chambers.
“I didn’t really have a friendship. It was just pleasantries with them.
“So I don’t recall having a conversation with them.”
