JODI McKay’s former ministerial colleague Michael Daley said he was not aware of an internal campaign to undermine her hold on the seat Newcastle.
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Mr Daley, who was police and finance minister, said he had not heard of the allegations that Ms McKay raised in ICAC yesterday until last night.
‘‘The first I knew of the evidence of Jodi McKay was when I heard it yesterday. She didn’t raise it with me or anybody else to my knowledge,’’ he said.
‘‘I like Jodi McKay a lot. People will have their own views about the evidence that she gave to ICAC yesterday. They were strong views and I don’t think I can usefully add anything to what Jodi McKay said yesterday.’’
Mr Daley said he hoped Ms McKay’s evidence would be seen in the inquiry’s broader context.
‘‘It’s worth remembering why Jodi McKay was in ICAC yesterday. It was all about people in business and other circles of life who it appeared didn’t want comply with the ban that Labor premier Nathan Rees put on developers donating to political parties.’’
By MICHELLE HARRIS
JODI McKay has always suspected who was involved in the treachery that led to her political demise.
But the former Newcastle MP still wept in the witness box yesterday when her fears were allegedly confirmed in evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
It was one of her own senior ALP colleagues, former minister Joe Tripodi, and Hunter party member Ann Wills, who had helped Nathan Tinkler’s interests sabotage her battle to keep her seat at the 2011 state election.
Ms McKay had refused an alleged ‘‘bribe’’ from Mr Tinkler to secretly fund her campaign and opposed his plans for a $2billion coal-loader at Mayfield.
Then thousands of anonymous leaflets warning against her preferred $600million container terminal proposal were delivered to homes in her electorate shortly before the poll.
Told investigators had uncovered who was responsible, Ms McKay broke down.
‘‘I believed they were behind it,’’ she sobbed. ‘‘But that’s the first time I’ve been told that. I knew they didn’t want me in the seat.’’
Ms McKay also told the inquiry that the then treasurer and ports minister Eric Roozendaal knew of Mr Tinkler’s offer and had ‘‘stonewalled’’ the container terminal plans.
FORMER treasurer Eric Roozendaal knew about Nathan Tinkler’s alleged attempt to bribe Newcastle MP Jodi McKay and made a ‘‘subtle threat’’ when she told him she would not support Mr Tinkler’s coal-loader proposal for Mayfield, an inquiry has heard.
In a day of shocking evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Ms McKay set out how Mr Roozendaal, also the ports minister before the 2011 election, had ‘‘stonewalled’’ a $600million container terminal already proposed for the former steelworks site, robbing the city of the project.
And she descended into tears in the witness box when told the ICAC’s investigators had uncovered information that ex-Labor minister Joe Tripodi, party member and former Labor staffer Ann Wills and the Tinkler Group were behind anonymous brochures that targeted her before the election, at which she narrowly lost her seat.
Ms McKay told how she had refused to discuss the $2billion coal-loader with Mr Tinkler.
She considered it ‘‘inappropriate’’ given the development company he controlled, Buildev, donated $50,000 to her 2007 campaign via the party’s head office and held a redevelopment contract over part of the Mayfield land.
Then, during a meeting about his interest in the Newcastle Knights, Mr Tinkler said ‘‘how difficult it was going to be for me to win the state election and that [then lord mayor] John Tate was going to be very difficult to beat’’.
He offered to contribute to her campaign but Ms McKay told him he was banned from donating as a developer.
‘‘I said that to him and his immediate reply was ‘I have hundreds of employees and I can get around the rules that way’,’’ she said.
‘‘It certainly felt like he wanted my support and he was prepared to buy that.’’
She remained opposed to the coal-loader because the Labor government had earmarked the former steelworks site for a container terminal.
But a $600million proposal to build it had somehow stalled within the government.
Ms McKay recalled how she tried ‘‘time and time again’’ to get information from Mr Roozendaal about the hold-up, as she and then Newcastle Port Corporation boss Gary Webb grew increasingly worried.
‘‘Something was very wrong in regard to what was happening in the treasurer’s office,’’ Ms McKay said.
At one point, a staff member of Mr Roozendaal’s rang Mr Webb and told him the container terminal had been approved.
But the approval was withdrawn the next day and the staff member was ‘‘replaced’’, Ms McKay said.
Finally, she got hold of Mr Roozendaal, who initially tried to blame her for the delay for having a community consultation period extended.
She told him she knew that was irrelevant.
‘‘He went silent and in a low voice he said ‘haven’t you spoken to Tinkler’,’’ Ms McKay said.
‘‘... He knew I had a conversation with Nathan Tinkler. And that made me very uneasy because the last conversation I had with Nathan Tinkler was when he offered to donate to my campaign.’’
Within hours, a Treasury document listing shortcomings with the container project was leaked to the Newcastle Herald.
A furious Ms McKay rang Mr Roozendaal to confront him, as she stood in her Hunter ministerial office with the door open so her staff could hear.
She shouted she would not support what he was doing.
‘‘He said ‘Don’t talk, don’t say things like that over the phone’,’’ she said.
After she hung up, he sent her a message ‘‘Can you call me back before we both do something we’ll regret’’.
‘‘It was in some ways a subtle threat to me and to be honest it strengthened my resolve in regard to that issue and what he and others were doing,’’ she told the inquiry.
Around the same time, Ms McKay became aware Ms Wills, whom she described as ‘‘Joe Tripodi’s eyes and ears in Newcastle’’, was consulting to Buildev and working out of an office owned by Cr Tate.
As reported in the Herald at the time, Ms Wills had also introduced Cr Tate to Mr Tripodi during a trip to State Parliament.
Ms McKay said she was ‘‘shocked’’ the meeting took place, given she was Labor’s candidate.
Then, at the start of March, thousands of anonymous leaflets titled ‘‘Jodi’s trucks’’ and warning of the impacts of a container terminal were delivered to inner-city homes.
Ms McKay told the hearing she reported the brochures to the police, and the Herald also made inquiries.
The leaflets were traced to a printer in Sydney’s Wetherill Park, but she could not prove who was responsible for the treachery.
‘‘If I told you that we’ve got some pretty good information, Ms McKay, that indicates that there were three people or entities behind this document – I’ll name them,’’ counsel assisting the inquiry Greg O’Mahoney said.
‘‘Firstly, we’ll call it the Tinkler Group. Secondly, Miss Ann Wills and thirdly, Mr Joe Tripodi.’’
‘‘What would you say in response to that?’’ Mr O’Mahoney asked.
After a long silence, Ms McKay began to cry.
‘‘I believed they were behind it,’’ she sobbed.
‘‘But that’s the first time I’ve been told that.
‘‘I knew they didn’t want me in the seat.’’
She said the period before the election had been ‘‘a torrid time’’.
‘‘I’m sorry to cry. You don’t want to cry at ICAC!’’ Ms McKay said.
Outside the inquiry, Ms McKay said she was ‘‘relieved’’ to learn the truth. She felt ‘‘cleansed’’ and could now move on – and never return to politics.
She said she did not consider accepting Mr Tinkler’s alleged offer because of her duty to the community. She lost her seat to Liberal Tim Owen.
The ICAC is also investigating allegations Buildev paid more than $66,000 into a slush fund in return for political favours from Liberal MP Chris Hartcher.
The inquiry is continuing.
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