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A south-east Queensland council CEO has refused to say whether she had a registered conflict of interest with a local developer when she recommended they pay a reduced fee for a billion-dollar housing development.
Redland City Council chief Louise Rusan now has a registered conflict of interest with development company Fox and Bell due to a family link with one of the directors, Greg Bell, but documents show she signed off on their projects as far back as 2014.
The conflict was revealed in reporting by this masthead about the cancellation of a Redland Bay development that would have been competition for a Fox and Bell-developed shopping centre.
In December, the council voted to end a two-year agreement with Consolidated Properties Group for a Coles-anchored shopping centre to be built at Weinam Creek, roughly a kilometre from the Woolworths-anchored Redland Bay Shopping Village.
That project would have also delivered a much-needed multi-storey carpark for residents of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands to store their cars near the Weinam Creek ferry terminal.
After the council decided to can the plans and opt for the state government to build a standalone car park, CPG chief Don O’Rorke told this masthead Fox and Bell stood to profit.
Since being put on the market, the Redland Bay Shopping Village has been advertised as the only full-line supermarket servicing the area.
In response to questions, Fox and Bell principal Garry Hargrave said his company had not sought to influence councillors or Rusan to have the Coles development sunk.
Greg Bell told local media outlet Redland Bayside News that the conflict began 15 years ago, but he had never discussed council matters with Rusan, who has worked at the council in varying roles since 2011.
Rusan said the conflict had been registered for more than a decade, but would not provide a specific date.
The professional links between Rusan and the firm date back more than a decade to a contentious development involving major land use changes.
Internal council emails from 2014 show Rusan signed off on a plan recommending a change to development application fees, described as a “fee waiver”, for the Shoreline housing development, which counted Fox and Bell directors as major stakeholders.
The emails show the developers paid discounted fees for the 3000-home estate, built on what had been farmland, in two stages: half before the application was submitted, and the rest after.
Rusan, then the general manager of community and customer services at the council, was the officer who reviewed and recommended the plan to more senior staff.
When the council approved the plan in November 2015, Rusan was the authorising officer.
In 2018, housing developer Lendlease took over as the project lead, before they offloaded Shoreline along with 11 other developments to Stockland in 2024.
When Lendlease came on board, the project was reportedly worth $2.3 billion.
Hargrave said the firm did not seek to influence Rusan’s Shoreline recommendation, and added the project went through 14 years of scrutiny and deliberation by the council and state.
“A process of that duration and complexity simply does not support any claim of preferential treatment for Fox and Bell,” he said.
Hargrave said, to his knowledge, the developers did not receive the fee waiver before the official application in 2014.
A council spokesperson said it was not unusual for fees to be discussed before lodging an application for large and detailed developments.
In the case of Shoreline, the spokesperson said the calculated fee was considered more than it would cost the council to assess the application.
“Consequently, a lower fee was paid,” they said.
“A representation was made prior to lodgement, stating that the proposed fee was not commensurate and provided examples from other south-east Queensland councils for application fees for similar types of development.”
Rusan said she had acted with integrity in all her council roles.
“I take my professional responsibilities seriously and at no point have I engaged in unethical behaviour,” she said in a statement.
A Redland City Council spokesperson has repeatedly said Rusan’s conflict of interest was managed under the appropriate governance processes.
More recently, Rusan was also involved in negotiations for a 1000-square-metre library space at the Victoria Point Lakeside shopping centre, another Fox and Bell development.
While the lease was discussed during a confidential meeting in January, council officers had recommended it would be cheaper to move the library than to renew the lease with Fox and Bell, according to comments made online by councillors.
But that recommendation was overridden by the council, who voted eight to two for Rusan to oversee negotiations with Fox and Bell.
Ten years earlier, in 2016, Rusan had also been the authorising officer recommending the library lease, then worth more than $520,000 a year, with a market review locked in after five years.
Hargrave said nobody from Fox and Bell had sought to influence Rusan’s role in the lease, and that to his knowledge Rusan was not involved in any direct talks.
The Victoria Point Lakeside centre owners – which include Bell and Hargrave – and council were unable to agree on a rental figure during the rent review, Hargrave said.
Under such circumstances, the lease required an independent valuer to determine the rent, he said.
Hargrave said no councillor, council officer, or representative of Fox and Bell or Victoria Point Lakeside had any direct or indirect influence over the determination.
This masthead is not suggesting the outcome of the library leases or the Shoreline development were influenced, manipulated, or improperly shaped by any party.
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