Ventnor

The botched rezoning of farmland on Phillip Island cost taxpayers millions of dollars and has left a major question hanging over Mr Guy's judgement.

In 2011 as planning minister,he rezoned farm land at Ventnor on Phillip Island against the views of his own planning department,the department's lawyers,the local Bass Coast shire and two independent planning panels.

Within days he wasforced to overturn the decision amid protests from his own premier and cabinet colleagues,the local Phillip Island community,and celebrity tweeter,Miley Cyrus.

AsThe Age revealed in 2012,Mr Guy's initial approval of the rezoning would have delivered a windfall to the purchasers of the land,Carley Nicholls and her husband Jim Hopkins,who was a Liberal Party member at the time.

The Agealso revealed that the rezoning followed approaches to Mr Guy's office on behalf of the couple by family friend,former Kennett government planning minister and nearby resident,Rob Maclellan.

The forced backflip triggered court action by the aggrieved Ms Nicholls,and confidential out-of-court compensation payments by the government believed to total about $3 million.

The settlement – the details were never made public –averted a potentially damaging Supreme Court case and followed threats by Ms Nicholls to reveal all about the events leading up to Mr Guy's initial rezoning.

In 2014,then Ombudsman George Brouwer slammed the government's handling of the Ventnor matter,but with limited powers to investigate politicians,his report focussed on the public service and the minister's advisers,rather than the minister's own decision making.

Mr Brouwer noted however that then-minister Mr Guy refused to hand over documents.

Fishermans Bend

In July 2012,Mr Guy stunned the political and property worlds when he,in effect,doubled the size of the Melbourne CBD by rezoning a 250-hectare industrial area south-west of the CBD and dubbing it"Fishermans Bend".

The decision to declare the precinct a"Capital City"zone triggered a massive hike in land values,a frenzy of high rise apartment tower applications and approvals,andwindfall paper profits to landowners and speculators,notable among them senior Liberal party members and donors including the party's honorary federal treasurer Andrew Burnes.

At the time there was no binding master plan nor height limits,nor any mechanism to capture any of the hundreds of millions of dollars in immediate uplift in land value in the area – money that could have helped pay up-front for the infrastructure and services.

In 2015 a Labor-appointed committee that included lord mayor Robert Doyle – a former state Liberal leader – foundMr Guy's Fishermans Bend move was"unprecedented in the developed world in the 21st century".

The Sunday Agepublished details at the time of confidential departmental briefs from early 2011 to 2013 that revealed how senior bureaucrats had urged Mr Guy to buy key strategic sites before allowing redevelopment of the precinct.

The leaked documents revealed how,over 15 months,and at the behest of the minister's office,the department gradually dropped its demands,including the protection of existing industries and jobs,in the end supporting his preference for ad hoc,laissez faire development of the entire area.

Mr Skyscraper

In 2013 RMIT planning academic Michael Buxton nicknamed Mr Guy"Mr Skyscraper"after heticked off a slew of towers in central Melbourne.

Among the most eyebrow-raising was a monster at 555 Collins Street.

In 2013 Mr Guy proactively inserted a clause into the Melbourne Planning Scheme – at direct odds with a long-standing planning rule for Melbourne – allowing a skyscraper on the site to be built overshadowing the Yarra River.

Mr Guy justified the unusual move by claiming Collins Street needed more premium-grade office space,and pointing to the economic contribution an"iconic development"would bring the city.

But a year later the site was sold to Singaporean investors.

The Andrews government's Planning Minister,Richard Wynne,has since knocked back an application for an 82-level tower on the site,and reversed Mr Guys'rule change that allowed the over-shadowing of the Yarra.

Mafia-linked fundraiser

Mr Guy was the guest speaker at a 2013 Liberal party fundraiser at Docklands hosted and bankrolled by the suspected Mafia godfather of Melbourne,Tony Madafferi.

The alleged crime figure's fundraising occurred even though Liberal politicians knew of Mr Madafferi's suspected involvement in organised crime and in a previous political donations scandal that had been investigated by federal police.

A spokeswoman for Mr Guy said at the time the minister had been"invited to attend the function by the Liberal campaign for Bruce. The minister had no role in organising the event or its guest list".

$10,000-per-head developer dinners

Despite a Baillieu government ban on fundraising at the time,Mr Guy attended a secret fund-raising dinner in 2011 with leading Melbourne developers,some of whom were seeking planning approvals at the time.

WhenThe Agerevealed the dinners in 2013,a spokeswoman for Mr Guy said the minister was told that the developers had not paid to attend the dinners. She stressed that he had rejected some of their planning applications.

Logical Inclusions

Developers and landowners who had tipped thousands of dollars into Liberal Party coffers were among the big winners from Mr Guy's opening of green-wedge areas and farmland to development on Melbourne's fringe in 2012.

Among those celebrating the expansion of the city's boundary were the owner,the developer and the lobbyist connected to an egg farm known as Brompton Lodge in the City of Casey.

In 2011,The Age revealed that the trio – farmer Peter Carpenter,developer Watsons,and lobbyist and former Liberal MP Geoff Leigh – were poised to share in a $500 million bonanza if the property was rezoned.

At the time Mr CarpentertoldThe Age he had met Mr Guy,then shadow planning minister,twice at Liberal fund-raisers before the 2010 state election.