‘Not necessarily particularly strange’: Premier cannot recall why he failed to disclose meeting with lobbyist

2 hours ago 2

Chris Minns says a breakfast meeting with former Labor premier turned lobbyist Morris Iemma was not disclosed because the catch-up was “about something to do with a local political scene” – despite emails later discussing proposed housing redevelopment projects.

Minns said that receiving advice from Iemma, one of the state’s most influential lobbyists, was “not necessarily particularly strange”, comparing it to something offered in the “opinion pages in the newspaper” or “when you brush past someone at the opening of something”.

Iemma has established one of the most sought-after lobbying shops among property developers because of the access offered to the state Labor government. Since Labor’s election in March 2023, Iemma Patterson Premier Advisory (IPPA) has increased its list of property businesses from 10 to more than 50 today.

Former NSW premier Morris Iemma (centre), Planning Minister Paul Scully (left) and Premier Chris Minns.

The NSW Planning Department has met Iemma more than any other lobbyist in the state since Labor returned to power.

The Herald has detailed how Iemma had a monthly meeting with one of the premier’s senior advisers. In one meeting, Iemma pushed for a stalled development in Menangle, about 15 kilometres south of Campbelltown, which later received provisional approval from the Planning Department.

“What I would say is that when it comes to Morris Iemma, we are all well aware that he works as a lobbyist and who his clients are, and obviously myself, Paul Scully, other senior bureaucrats and NSW public servants take that into consideration,” Minns said on Monday.

“I think that’s reasonable and fair enough in the circumstances.”

The breakfast meeting between Minns, senior adviser Cherie Burton and Iemma on April 8 last year was not published in the ministerial diary as required under laws designed to increase transparency over ministerial contact with lobbyists.

“So I suspect it was a political meeting about something to do with a local political scene,” Minns said. “Morris, as a former premier and local member of parliament, has an interest in candidates doing well, but I just don’t have an automatic recall of circumstances today.”

A week after the catch-up, Iemma emailed Burton and referred “to our discussion in relation to the proposed housing redevelopment projects” in Macquarie Park and Kogarah.

Asked about a list of reforms the Independent Commission Against Corruption has urged the government to adopt, Minns singled out progress being made in relation to “opaque” family trusts for MPs. But he said the government needed a bipartisan or multipartisan approach to move the reforms through parliament.

Special Minister of State John Graham said that having a register of lobbyists in NSW was important, and claimed Labor was “disclosing more issues than the former government ever did”.

“The premier’s already taking a more open approach, but we’re making sure we will regulate further in this area,” Graham said.

Minns said that a position taken by former Labor leader John Robertson to outlaw ministers from meeting lobbyists was impractical because it would set an “expectation that can’t be met”, and if unfilled, leave the impression “there’s a nefarious activity taking place”.

“And I do believe that if someone is coming representing the interest of the third party, they need to disclose that,” he said.

“But I also think the government’s going to be mature enough to understand information, accept it, and then make a decision in the best interest of taxpayers, which we’ve done.”

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