Building commissioner’s resignation letter reveals concerns about minister and Barilaro

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Building commissioner’s resignation letter reveals concerns about minister and Barilaro

By Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe
Updated

The resignation letter of NSW building commissioner David Chandler has revealed he held concerns about the relationship between then-fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and the property development group that hired former deputy premier John Barilaro.

The confidential letter, which has also been provided to the corruption watchdog, was released under parliamentary order on Thursday. It outlined a litany of Chandler’s concerns, including his “problematic” engagement with Petinos’ office, which influenced his decision to resign.

From left: Outgoing NSW building commissioner David Chandler, former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and former deputy premier John Barilaro.

From left: Outgoing NSW building commissioner David Chandler, former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and former deputy premier John Barilaro.Credit: Kate Geraghty, Rhett Wyman, Dominic Lorrimer

In his letter to department secretary Emma Hogan, dated July 7, Chandler described “concerns that I have with the advised relationship of the Minister and Coronation Property Group”.

“As advised to you I received a call from the Minister’s Office shortly after a draft order was issued on Coronation’s Merrylands Development,” the letter said.

“Shortly after that call, a message was sent to me by John Barilaro who I was advised had recently joined the Coronation Board. This contact came to me as a message on my personal phone requesting a meeting with me.”

Chandler said he copied the message to Hogan, and later met Barilaro to answer his questions. “A separate record of that meeting exists,” he wrote.

Outgoing NSW building commissioner David Chandler.

Outgoing NSW building commissioner David Chandler. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Chandler also pointed to the challenges that faced the NSW residential apartment industry when he entered the job in 2019 as “frankly horrific”.

“Turning around the brand of the NSW residential apartment market is now at a stage where demonstrable public confidence has lifted,” the letter said.

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The building commissioner also described the difference in his engagement with the minister’s office, since a ministerial reshuffle last year resulted in Petinos taking over the portfolio from now-Hospitality Minister Kevin Anderson.

“Alas, the same level of engagement has not been experienced since. My personal experience has been one where engagement with the minister’s office has been problematic,” he wrote.

“Given where all the above matters now rest, I believe my continued role as NSW building commissioner is no longer viable.”

Chandler said other officers in the department had reported similar experiences, “and important pieces of previously canvassed legislation have now run into serious disruption”.

The NSW opposition used upper house orders to compel the government to release the letter after it was revealed that Petinos met representatives from a property development company that employed Barilaro.

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Both Petinos and Barilaro have issued statements saying that Barilaro was not in attendance at a June 2 meeting between Petinos and Coronation Property. A second meeting with Coronation on June 21 was disclosed in her diary out of “an abundance of caution”, Petinos has said.

Barilaro on Tuesday said he didn’t work for the company on June 21, and the pair met to celebrate his new job as a trade commissioner to the US.

Chandler resigned abruptly last month despite having recently signed a contract extension. As an industry veteran of 50 years, he was tasked in 2019 with cleaning up NSW’s construction industry as the state’s first building commissioner.

His sudden resignation prompted speculation over the circumstances of his departure amid scrutiny over the conduct of recently dumped Petinos, to whom he reported.

Premier Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday revealed during question time that Chandler’s resignation letter was sent to the secretary of the Department of Customer Service, who referred it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on August 1.

He said he only learnt that the letter had been referred to the corruption watchdog late on Tuesday night.

Perrottet has maintained that the sacking of Petinos was unrelated to Chandler’s resignation.

When he resigned, Chandler said in a statement that he felt the time was right for “a reset”, but remained firmly committed to working with the department until the end of his tenure in November.

“I do not want my resignation to distract people from what has been achieved so far, and the work that is still to be done,” he said on July 27.

Opposition spokeswoman for better regulation and innovation Courtney Houssos said the premier needed to explain how he could have been briefed by Hogan about Petinos’ conduct and not know about Chandler’s concerns raised in the resignation letter.

“It is incredibly important that we understand why minister Petinos was sacked in the first place by the premier,” Houssos said.

“We also need the premier to explain how he could be briefed by the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service the night before he sacked minister Petinos about the very issues that were the basis for the sacking and the same person who sent the letter off to ICAC the next day didn’t raise those concerns with him.”

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