Developer John Woodman was among the highest donors to the Liberal Party’s corporate fundraising arm, IBAC has heard.
Mr Woodman spent more than $70,000 on the top-tier membership package with the Liberal-linked Enterprise Victoria in 2019 – despite keeping a low profile due to adverse “publicity” about his alleged corrupt land deals in City of Casey.
In a tapped call tabled at IBAC, Enterprise Victoria executive director at the time Amy Sullivan rang him on 26 February 2019 on the eve of renewing his membership.
She invites Mr Woodman and a “guest or two or five” to the ‘Chairman’s welcome’.
He tells Ms Sullivan he didn’t want to be seen at the functions because “people … want to join the dots”.
Ms Sullivan asks him “would there be any value in” meeting with newly elected Opposition leader Michael O’Brien and state president Robert Clarke.
Mr Woodman says he’s happy to meet with them.
“I’ve got a few things that I need to talk to Michael about and I need their support at a state level and depending on how those conversations go …
“But what I don’t want to do is support them and then find that I get yelled at in Parliament.”
At IBAC, Ms Sullivan said she couldn’t recall the conversation but “I can absolutely with clarity guarantee that a meeting never took place”.
When asked if it was an example of “privileged access”, Ms Sullivan said it was to “see if there were any learnings from Mr Woodman” about the 2018 state election and leading onto the upcoming 2019 federal election.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said: “Can we not put to rest once and for all the notion that people don’t make substantial donations in the expectation that they will get support in return from the party or from ministers when there’s a need?”
“I think this particular example does,” Ms Sullivan said.
“I don’t think it’s a common practice.”
In the tapped call, Ms Sullivan tells Mr Woodman of a “little loophole … totally above board” to avoid stricter state donor laws as of late 2018.
She says Enterprise Victoria’s funds were “by default” going to the “federal campaign fund”.
At the inquiry, Ms Sullivan explained EV restructured so it only had to disclose donors exceeding the AEC’s $14,300 threshold, rather than a $1000 threshold in Victoria, Ms Sullivan said.
Ms Sullivan said it was a matter for the Liberals’ state finance director how it could possibly fund a state election campaign.
In March 2019, Mr Woodman initially paid $50,000 to Enterprise Victoria – in five lots of $10,000 from five of his different business entities – provided by his lobbyist Lorraine Wreford.
He was entitled to Enterprise’s top tier Leadership package, and added two further $10,000 payments in September.
It was “unusual, not unheard of” for donors to exceed the maximum package charge of $60,000. It was “not uncommon” for donors to “invoice split” between difference entities, the inquiry heard.
“So if $50,000 was split across five invoices, each individual invoice would be less than the disclosure amount.”
Mr Woodman is recorded telling Ms Sullivan that he indicated support for former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s 2019 federal election campaign.
But he told Mr Abbott “their Federal display on asylum seekers is absolutely pathetic and that they’re going to get slaughtered in the election”.
“But even disregarding all that I said: ‘Look I’m still prepared to support you because I like you as a guy’.
“I mean it’s all very well to pour money into these people but they’re doing dumb things.”
