Watsons has been a main player in the whittling away of half of green wedge land set aside by the Hamer government in the 1970s as Melbourne's "lungs". Watsons has long been involved in lobbying relating to these developments.
Wyndham Harbour, the Waterways and Martha Cove
Through the early 2000s, Watsons was involved in a string of controversial residential subdivisions in green wedge and low-lying areas including the residential The Keys in Keysborough, the 700-lot housing and wetlands scheme Waterways at Mordialloc Creek, and Wyndham Harbour Werribee.
Most contentious was the $650 million Martha Cove marina development at Safety Beach on the Mornington Peninsula. With Steve Bracks’ ALP government in power, Watsons was generous to Labor MPs in particular. In 2002 when the government approved Martha Cove, Watsons donated tens of thousands of dollars to Labor and in following years he made further donations directly to two south-eastern Labor MPs.
This week IBAC heard allegations of how Mr Woodman sought to engineer the rezoning of land at Cranbourne West through donations and personal payments to local councillors, donations to state candidates and MPs, and even underwrote a local resident group to back his bid. He told the hearing that only once before had he been so thorough in his methods, including paying off a local Aboriginal group at Martha Cove.
A promotional image of Martha Cove.
Brompton Lodge
In 2012 Woodman-linked companies were among the group of property owners, developers and lobbyists celebrating a likely windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars from the rezoning of a former egg farm known as Brompton Lodge in Cranbourne.
The rezoning was part of wider extension of Melbourne’s urban fringe by then-planning minister Matthew Guy, under a process known as “logical inclusions”.
The 100-hectare property was bought as a bush block by the Carpenter family for about $70,000 in the 1970s. In 2011-12 Watsons estimated its developed value at up to $500 million. The group behind the rezoning push included Mr Woodman, former Liberal MP turn lobbyist Geoff Leigh and Brompton Lodge owner Peter Carpenter.
Brompton Lodge under development.
They donated to the Liberal Party and generated funds for the party and its local state and council candidates including Cr Geoff Ablett. Brompton Lodge has featured in the IBAC hearings but there have been no allegations of wrongdoing made against Mr Leigh or Mr Carpenter.
Tony Madafferi’s rezoning push
In 2017 The Sunday Age revealed that Mr Woodman had fronted a bid by Melbourne’s alleged Mafia boss Antonio Madafferi, to redevelop a large "green wedge" property he owns in Keysborough in the city's south-east in 2016. Had it succeeded, the move would have generated a windfall of at least $120 million for Mr Woodman and Mr Madafferi, who was the central figure in the lobster dinner and political donations affair involving then Opposition Leader Matthew Guy earlier in 2017.
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Greater Dandenong Council, including former mayor Jim Memeti, supported the bid. Three months after the council vote, Mr Woodman donated a helicopter ride for four people, worth thousands of dollars, as part of a fundraiser for Cr Memeti. The councillor auctioned the chopper ride at a fundraiser for $3500 ahead of the council election in October 2016. The rezoning was ultimately blocked by Labor Planning Minister Richard Wynne.
The Keysborough development, including the donation to Cr Memeti, is not the subject of the IBAC investigation.
Cranbourne West
In 2014 Mr Woodman and associates began the push to rezone a large area of Cranbourne West farmland owned by construction giant Leighton from industrial to the much more valuable residential.
The rezoning would have generated a windfall of $100 million for Leighton, since renamed the CIMIC Group, with Mr Woodman’s share in the millions of dollars.
In 2014 the council rejected the rezoning but later backflipped to support it as Mr Woodman made big donations and allegedly corrupt personal payments to councillors. A well-resourced resident group, Save Cranbourne West Residents Action Group, campaigned against industry on the site.
Resident Katherine Mann in front of a large Cranbourne West piece of farmland at the centre of the IBAC hearing this week.Credit:Joe Armao
Last October The Sunday Age revealed that the group had been funded by Leighton, and its website by registered by Woodman consultant, Megan Schutz. This week IBAC revealed that Mr Woodman, through Ms Schutz, had made payments of about $60,000 a year to the group’s frontman, Ray Walker.
Momentum for the rezoning also came from local MPs, including Labor’s Jude Perera and Judith Graley who had received donations from Watsons. In 2018 Mr Woodman also donated to, and lobbied, aspiring Labor candidate for Cranbourne Pauline Richards about the rezoning.
When The Sunday Age raised concerns about the rezoning process shortly before the state election in 2018, planning minister Mr Wynne deferred a decision until after the poll. A decision has still not been made but the rezoning is now almost certain to be refused.
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Little River
Woodman and his lobbyists have recently pressed both the Morrison and Andrews governments to support a radical plan for a multibillion-dollar, satellite city at Little River, 50 kilometres south-west of Melbourne. The scheme is centred on green wedge and farming land owned by wealthy Malaysian tile mogul John Chua.
Woodman and his Liberal-linked lobbyist Lorraine Wreford recently met federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar to seek support for the city of 120,000 residents featuring carbon neutrality, high-tech transport, affordable housing and state-of-the-art composting.
Former Labor roads minister Luke Donnellan was briefed on the proposal. Former Casey mayor and current councillor Sam Aziz, who according to allegations raised before IBAC received $900,000 from Mr Woodman, did paid "research". A formal application for rezoning for the Little River scheme has not yet been lodged.
On Tuesday at the IBAC hearing Mr Woodman said his relationship with the Little River project had been “terminated”.
Mahers Landing Inverloch
Andersons Inlet, Inverloch
Woodman is fronting a contentious proposal for a 1000-lot marina development at Mahers Landing east of Inverloch on behalf of Liberal activist and fund-raiser Jason Yeap’s Mering Corporation. The project, with an estimated value of $380 million, would include 1113 residential sites and a 200-boat marina on Anderson Inlet, well outside the urban boundary of Inverloch.
Like Little River, a formal application has not yet been lodged. However Mr Woodman and others have been preparing the ground for an application with local Bass Coast councillors, including running an invitation-only community forum in the area last year.
A similar project on the same site was proposed by golf course and housing developer the Links Group but refused by then planning minister Mary Delahunty in the mid-2000s.
Royce Millar is an investigative journalist at The Age with a special interest in public policy and government decision-making.
Ben Schneiders is an investigative journalist at The Age and has reported extensively on wage theft, corruption, business, politics and the labour movement. A three-time Walkley Award winner, he has been part of The Age’s investigative unit since 2015.
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