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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Michael Parris

Crakanthorp says wife's property left out of ministerial disclosure was not at Broadmeadow

Crakanthorp speech

Tim Crakanthorp says a property owned by his wife which he omitted from his ministerial disclosure of interests was not at Broadmeadow but in Cooks Hill.

The Newcastle MP told Parliament last week that he had unintentionally omitted a property owned by his wife, Laura, from his initial ministerial disclosure after being appointed to cabinet in April.

In his speech, Mr Crakanthorp referred to "another return which included the omitted property owned by my wife" and a "subsequent updated disclosure under the Ministerial Code of Conduct that again identified the subject property owned by my wife at Broadmeadow".

The Newcastle Herald and other media outlets have reported Mr Crakanthorp's speech as meaning he omitted his wife's property in Broadmeadow from his initial disclosure of interests.

But a legal representative for Mr Crakanthorp told the Herald on Thursday night that the omitted property belonging to Laura Crakanthorp was in Darby Street, Cooks Hill.

Property records show Ms Crakanthorp owns an apartment in Darby Street.

Tim Crakanthorp addressing Parliament last week.

The location of the property omitted from Mr Crakanthorp's initial disclosure could be significant because government agencies have a strategy to rezone privately owned commercial land in Broadmeadow for housing, which could increase the value of some property in the suburb.

Ms Crakanthorp bought a commercial property at 30 Broadmeadow Road, Broadmeadow, from one of her family's corporate entities in February for $1.25 million.

Mr Crakanthorp also told Parliament that he had notified Premier Chris Minns at some point after lodging his initial disclosure that he had "become aware" that properties owned by his father-in-law in Broadmeadow "also now represented a conflict of interest".

He said had disclosed in his initial return that his father-in-law owned property at Broadmeadow and "undertook to notify under the code of conduct any changes to any perceived conflict".

The Cooks Hill building where Laura Crakanthorp owns an apartment.

In his speech to Parliament, he said "in recent days" he had "now spoken to both my in-laws and my siblings-in-laws to assemble a full list of each of their interests, and I've provided those to the Premier's office".

Property records show Mr Crakanthorp's in-laws, the Manitta family, own eight commercial properties in Broadmeadow Road in addition to the property owned by Ms Crakanthorp.

Mr Minns sacked Mr Crakanthorp from his cabinet last week and referred the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, saying he had not "promptly" disclosed the family's "substantial" property interests.

The Premier said he was concerned the former Minister for the Hunter's public duties could have intersected with his family's private interests.

The Broadmeadow Road property bought by Laura Crakanthorp in February.

Mr Minns said he had been provided with information about the extent of Mr Crakanthorp's family interests and written a formal letter to the Newcastle MP.

Mr Crakanthorp said in his speech to Parliament on Wednesday last week and in an earlier media statement that he had "self-reported" the "unintended breaches" of the ministerial code.

The schedule to the Ministerial Code of Conduct says a minister must "promptly give notice to the Premier of any conflict of interest that arises in relation to any matter".

The Newcastle Herald has asked Mr Crakanthorp and Mr Minns over the past week to clarify which properties the Newcastle MP did and did not include in his ministerial disclosures since April.

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