How the NSW government can still benefit from developer money despite political donations ban

The New South Wales government is indirectly benefiting from donations from property developers who are legally able to give huge sums to fund prestige projects in the state, despite there being a ban on financial contributions to political parties.

The Walker Family Foundation is a separate charitable entity and there is no suggestion its support for the projects is linked in any way to the Appin development.

But in November the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, announced that the NSW government was fast-tracking rezoning approval of Appin and that the state would take over assessment of the proposal from Wollondilly council.

Roberts and the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, said the fast-tracking, which the department said was part of a pilot scheme, was designed to help drive down real estate prices in Sydney by increasing supply of housing sites.

The relationship of state governments to developers has long been a source of sensitivity because of their role in planning and approving developments.

The former NSW Labor government was mired in multiple scandals about the potential (or perceived potential) influence that political donations by developers might have had on decisions.

But the NSW government accepts monetary support, albeit indirectly, from developers in other entirely legal ways.

After the NSW ban, Walker Corp continued its support of the federal Liberal party, donating more than $700,000 over the last decade to federal campaigns. There is no restriction on federal donations from developers, which can be made via state offices, provided they are deposited into the federal campaign account and used to fund federal activities.

In October that year Walker, through his family foundation, threw a $20m lifeline to the project.

In 2019 Walker gave $20m to fund a building named after him at Campbelltown hospital, which will be home to the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research.

The Ingham family, of chicken fame, are also a major developer in western Sydney and set up the institute a decade ago. It has attracted support from other developers including the Perich and Vitocco families.

It would inspire and educate students in western Sydney and beyond, Walker said at the time.

In response to questions from Guardian Australia, the NSW planning department said no lobbying by any developer had affected decision making.

The department said the analysis had been undertaken by the consultants Atlas Urban Economics for Walker Corp at the request of a panel set up to work through some of the technical and strategic difficulties associated with the sites.

The department also pointed to its technical assurance panel which over the last year has worked with agencies to overcome obstacles to development of Appin.

Last year he was named as one of eight ambassadors for the bicentennial of the NSW parliament. He is just one of two private sector supporters, the other being Westpac, whose chairman (of the Bank of NSW, as it was then) was a member of the first Legislative Council.

The president of the Legislative Council, Matthew Mason Cox, said the ambassadors had offered support for programs such as mentoring young leaders. He said Walker had offered his support because he was interested in the history of the parliament. He could not say what the support would be worth but said the bicentennial was largely funded by a $25m allocation in the state budget.

Walker was the first, along with Western Sydney University, to support the Powerhouse but other developers have followed his example of generosity.

The Vitocco family, which has land in the other major development area, the Aerotropolis near the new airport, has given a $5m donation.

Last April Holdmark Properties, which has residential developments in Parramatta, St Leonards and Lane Cove, made a $10m donation to establish an architectural and engineering exhibition and the Holdmark Gallery at the Powerhouse.

Analysis by the Centre for Public Integrity has found that property developers donated $5.7m in 2019 to federal politics and their donations are increasing, with the federal Liberal party being the biggest beneficiary.

The former lord mayor of Newcastle Jeff McCloy challenged the constitutional validity of the NSW developer donations laws in the high court after he was caught giving bags of cash to state Liberal MPs in the back of his Bentley, in breach of the ban. The high court upheld the laws.

Under the planning ministers Brad Hazzard and Rob Stokes, the NSW government moved to distance itself from planning decisions and instead established independent planning commissions and panels to make assessments and publish the reasons for those assessments.

The latest fast-tracking mechanisms, introduced under Roberts, bring assessment of major projects and decision making back to the planning department and the minister.