No decision has yet been made on the rezoning but on the weekendThe Sunday Agerevealed that Mr Woodman believed in 2015 that he had been given an assurance the Andrews government approve the rezoning.
Mr Tovey stressed on Monday that in its thorough investigation,IBAC had found"no impropriety"by any member of government".
However he said that IBAC was concerned that through his"cultivation"of MPs - including with donations and gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to both major parties over the past decade - Mr Woodman may have “sought undue access”.
The meeting with Mr Pallas - most probably at a function organised by Labor's fundraising arm,Progressive Business - appears to have occurred well after the Mr Woodman emailed associates reminding them ofan agreement with State Labor about the rezoning.
Amanda Stapledon last year.Credit:Paul Jeffers
In his fifth day as the key witness at public hearings,Mr Woodman disputed the description of him as a'kingmaker'at Casey,but confirmed playing a behind-the-scenes role in mayoral elections. He said his close interests in local politics at Casey and other municipalities was “standard” for developers seeking planning approvals in Victoria.
The commission also heard that Mr Woodman played a role in deciding who became Casey mayor in 2018 and paid for special care at the disability service attended by a councillor’s son as the councillor was seeking to become mayor.
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Mr Woodman confirmed that he provided funds to Blairlogie Living and Learning,a supported accommodation service in Cranbourne South,where the son of Councillor Amanda Stapledon attended.
The public examination heard how Mr Woodman,a director of planning one-stop shop Watsons Pty Ltd,met Cr Stapledon at an East Malvern restaurant where they discussed her bid to be Casey's mayor. This appeared to be a reference to Cr Stapledon’s push for the mayoralty she won in October 2018.
Mr Woodman said he had supported Cr Stapledon’s mayoral campaign after also financially backing her ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Liberal Party for state parliament in 2014.
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He said it was unclear if Cr Stapledon had declared his support of aftercare support for her son at Blairlogie. While Cr Stapledon has declared Mr Woodman’s donation for the 2014 state election,it is doubtful that she declared the developer’s support for her mayoral bid.
The Woodman-linked development company Wolfdene has long been a major sponsor of the Blairlogie service through its charitable Wolfdene Foundation.
In its annual report from 2016 and 2017,Blairlogie also notes the many years of help from Ms Schutz,who has played a key role in big development projects at Casey.
Cr Stapledon was mayor for the year to October 2019. It was her second term in the position. She has not responded to a string of recent queries fromThe Age about issues raised in the IBAC hearings.
Mr Tovey also detailed the apparent manipulation of council business by Mr Woodman and his planning consultant Megan Schutz,which included the “scripting"of council motions,especially for former mayor Cr Sam Aziz.
Mr Woodman also confirmed that when Casey employed a new chief executive officer in 2018 he had provided the name of a council planner he wanted removed from staff as part of a"clean out"discussed with Cr Geoff Ablett,a recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Woodman largessse.
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