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A secret recording that triggered a seven-year defamation battle embroiling politicians including federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has finally been played in court, revealing a businessman coached a contact on how to engineer a land swap with the government that would see “toxic soil” dumped and buried.
In the 2019 recording, prominent West Australian businessman Greg Poland coached landowner Aaron Grainger, on how to “solve a political headache” for the state government, by facilitating the removal of millions of tonnes of allegedly contaminated soil from an airport development.
Poland, who was recorded without his knowledge in the restaurant of the Subiaco Hotel in Perth, pushed the idea of a land swap, which would allow Grainger to take ownership of a valuable sand-mining site south of Perth in exchange for giving the government a place to dump the allegedly contaminated soil from the development.
Poland encouraged Grainger to send him a letter setting out the plan, and said he would then use his influence as deputy chairman of the Peel Development Commission, to push the plan to then Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and then-regional development minister Allanah MacTiernan.
Grainger repeatedly expressed reservations about the idea.
Poland, the chairman of Strzelecki Group and owner of multiple commercial and residential developments around WA, is suing this masthead and its former journalists over the publication of two stories based on that recording.
Hastie and former WA Liberal Leader Zak Kirkup have also been drawn into the proceedings over their alleged roles in the dissemination of the recording.
Poland’s lawyer Martin Bennett fought to stop the recording being reported on during Wednesday’s proceedings, questioning its authenticity by saying the format of the recording submitted for use in the trial was an MP4, not an MP3 like the original file was.
He also argued no publication of the recording should be allowed until the final judgment had been made, given one of the things the plaintiff sought was the deletion of the recording in all its formats should his case be successful.
However, Nine’s lawyer Matthew Lewis, SC, argued it was odd that Poland would not want the recording published, given he had maintained throughout the proceedings it would “vindicate” his side of the story.
Justice Matthew Howard considered several points, including that the recording was suggested to have been made illegally, but said no part of the plaintiff’s case argued that the recording contained any defamatory statements.
It remains unclear whether the recording will be able to be submitted as evidence.
In the audio subsequently played in court, Poland can be heard giving advice to Grainger, who owns of a block of land in Waroona, about 100 kilometres south of Perth.
Poland and Grainger discuss how to make a deal with the state government to relocate between two and eight million tonnes of “toxic sand” from a major infrastructure project in the city to Grainger’s land.
“No way in the world they are going to allow that toxic sand to be spread … they’ve got to get rid of it,” Poland can be heard saying.
He then tells Grainger that, “what we want to say to you is we’re not going to tell you what to do. But I could say in another way, if I was you, this is what I’d probably think”.
In the audio, Poland suggested writing a letter to the state government offering a land-swap deal. If Grainger sold his land to the state government, they could then use it to dump the soil from the airport link development.
In return, Grainger would then own the sand, worth up to $600 million, to be used in construction.
In the audio, Grainger stated he could take two million tonnes of the soil from the airport link project, but that he could take the full eight million tonnes if they allowed him to clear more of his land, and discusses mentioning that in the letter.
Poland then recommended not asking for the permit to clear more land, and to instead offer to take the two million tonnes of soil to start, with the possibility of taking more down the track.
“Keep it simple, they will come straight to you once you’ve done one favour,” Poland says in the audio.
“Once you’ve done one favour, they’ll ring you and they’ll steamroll anything through.
“Rita [Saffioti] will just push it through. Alannah [MacTiernan] and Rita will just steamroll it. They’ll just steamroll it.
“If we could pull this off, whatever you want, Rita would be your friend.”
Grainger, Poland and Lisa Taylor, who was the Peel Development Commission’s commercial manager at the time, then discuss the Waroona site as the ideal location to take the soil, because the area is “already contaminated”.
“It’s all contaminated anyway … the advantages of my spot is, I’ve got the shire tip right next door and I’ve got another private tip on the other side of me, and I’ve got Alcoa,” Grainger can be heard saying.
Near the end of the meeting, Poland can be heard thanking Taylor for not taking notes, stating he was “unorthodox”.
Lewis cross-examined Poland, both before and after the recording was played, homing in on his affidavit where the developer claimed the meeting which had been recorded had taken place in a “private lounge”.
Poland has also claimed several times the meeting was at 11.30am, which he stood by when documents showed the meeting had been scheduled for 9.30am.
“You were trying to convey you were in a secluded set-up,” Lewis said.
“Well we were,” Poland replied, before later also stating: “You should be able to have a private conversation anywhere.”
Lewis said meeting in one of the main rooms at the Subiaco Hotel was not a private lounge, and suggested Poland had deliberately tried to make the meeting seem more secluded than it was to make a point about why it should not have been recorded.
Poland denied that claim.
After the recording was played, Poland was asked again whether he believed the meeting to be private, due to the audible background noise including children and chairs scraping.
“You’re trying to con me, I won’t be conned,” he replied, claiming anything would sound louder if it was played at an increased volume.
“I was there, you weren’t, sorry to be rude, there was one other customer there,” he said.
“There was obviously more than one,” Lewis replied, which Poland denied.
He will return to the stand on Thursday morning.
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