The former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro is once again in the spotlight, but this time at Liverpool Council.
It follows the publication of a photograph of Mr Barilaro in his capacity as executive director of Coronation Property – having lunch with Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun and the acting CEO of the council on March 1 this year.
Labor leader on the council, Nathan Hagarty, submitted a series of questions on the notice paper, and has received a response.
But he “absolutely’’ plans to have more questions to raise at this Wednesday’s council meeting.
“We want to find out what other probity processes have been missed or ignored and how many other undocumented meetings has the mayor had with property developers,’’ he told the South West Voice.
Mr Hagarty asked these questions regarding the lunch in question:
1. Was the meeting council related?
2. If so, what was the nature of meeting and what undertakings were made following the meeting?
3. Were the appropriate disclosures (e.g. meeting request forms) made by the Office of CEO and Office of the Mayor regarding meeting with property developers?
4. If so, when were those disclosures made?
5. Who paid for the lunch?
In response, the mayor said he had the meeting with Mr Barilaro to deal with issues regarding a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) with Coronation Property.
“I took an opportunity to meet with John Barilaro to get an understanding of the issues and concerns from Coronation’s perspective,’’ said the mayor in response to Mr Hagarty’s questions.
“As a stakeholder who was undertaking major community infrastructure works (riverbank stabilisation and the construction of the board walk), it was important to meet John Barilaro at the time, to start to work through the issues.
“The meeting started in the mayor’s office and then continued through to a lunch meeting where we also discussed other topics such as his role as deputy premier and the management of the Covid pandemic from a State Government level.
“The Covid discussion was important because our LGA, along with other Western Sydney Councils, had been significantly impacted compared to other Sydney metropolitan areas.
“The result of this meeting was the beginning of a series of follow up meetings and discussions with Coronation Property and council officers.
“This culminated in a workshop chaired by me, involving experts from both sides working through technicalities of the VPA to reach an amicable solution and consequently avoided a deadlock for this essential community infrastructure work.’’
Mayor Mannoun paid for the lunch out of his own funds.
