The Morrison government has refused to comply with a Senate order to produce 10 briefs associated with the controversial purchase of land for Sydney’s second major airport at 10 times its market value.
During the last parliamentary sitting week, the Senate ordered the government to table documentary material associated with the purchase of the so-called Leppington triangle that had been referenced in a scathing assessment of the transaction by the Australian National Audit Office.
But the federal government says it will not obey the upper house order because releasing the material could prejudice current investigations into the land purchase, including a police probe.
In a damning report released in September, the ANAO found infrastructure department officials acted unethically by failing to advise their minister and senior decision-makers how much they proposed to pay the landowner, and for not providing accurate answers when the sale was investigated.
In July 2018, the commonwealth purchased the 12.26-hectare triangular parcel of land adjacent to the site of Western Sydney airport. It paid the Leppington Pastoral Company $29.8m.
That company – operated by billionaire brothers Tony and Ron Perich – runs one of Australia’s largest dairy farms and had fought a 10-year battle against compulsory acquisition of part of its land from 1989 to 1999. It is also a donor to the Liberal party.
Only 11 months after the purchase, the land was valued at just $3.1m, triggering the ANAO’s investigation and the subsequent audit that concluded the department “did not exercise appropriate due diligence” and that its operations “fell short of ethical standards”.
The Australian federal police are now investigating the controversial transaction after a referral from the ANAO.
Responding to the Senate order on behalf of the government, the urban infrastructure minister, Alan Tudge, said releasing the requested documentary material would not be in the public interest.
“The public disclosure of information concerning the matters under investigation by the AFP, including to the Senate, would have the potential to prejudice that investigation,” Tudge said.
The minister said disclosure could “influence or inhibit the evidence of potential witnesses in the AFP investigation and disclose possible avenues of inquiry”.
Tudge said he had been advised that the disclosure of the briefs could identify the subjects of an ongoing disciplinary investigation being carried out under the Public Service Act.
But the shadow infrastructure minister, Catherine King, characterised the refusal as “another cover-up from the Morrison government on the Leppington land scandal”.
“The Senate simply requested copies of briefings received by the decision-makers, including the minister responsible for ensuring that taxpayers’ funds were spent in an appropriate manner in the execution of this land deal,” King said on Wednesday.
“[Then-minister Paul] Fletcher claimed a supposed inadequacy of departmental briefings as his defence when this scandal emerged, but now won’t let the Senate and the Australian public test the truthfulness of that defence”.
Fletcher, the infrastructure minister at the time of the land purchase, told the National Press Club in September the decision to approve the sale was made by a deputy secretary.
Fletcher told journalists: “The auditor general makes it plain in his assessment – and I wouldn’t disagree with that assessment – information that should have been provided to the decision-maker was not provided.”
Fletcher said briefing material to the deputy secretary and himself was “deficient” because it failed to disclose “key pieces of information” that would have allowed them to assess whether what was paid was reasonable.
King said the Senate order was about testing the veracity of that defence. “By not agreeing to this Senate order the government has confirmed that it has something to hide.”
