BERWICK
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Thursday, 27 July, 2023
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SPORT
12496498-DL22-21
Tuck’s CTE severe, inquiry told
Set for Sandon By Callum Goode, AAP, and Cam Lucadou-Wells A long-delayed corruption watchdog report into planning decisions at Casey Council is set to be published within days after a late bid to block it failed. Millionaire property developer John Woodman on Monday sought permission to appeal an earlier Supreme Court ruling dismissing his request to stop the release of the Operation Sandon report. But his case was thrown out by a threejustice bench in the Victorian Court of Appeal after about an hour of arguments. It’s expected that the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission will release the report on Thursday 27 July, although Mr Woodman could still take his fight to the High Court. Mr Woodman was publicly examined across six days of public hearings in November 2019 as part of the watchdog’s probe into corrupt conduct involving councillors and property developers in the City of Casey. The inquiry heard Mr Woodman or his companies donated to both major political parties ahead of the 2018 election and he increased a donation to Cranbourne Labor MP Pauline Richards as she was willing to support rezoning land in Cranbourne West, a claim Ms Richards denies. Lawyers for Mr Woodman on Monday claimed the watchdog breached the IBAC Act and caused him “unreasonable damage“ by examining him in public. “Any report by the IBAC purporting to contain answers given by Mr Woodman and any comment or conclusions in the report based
on such answers is not authorised under the IBAC Act, is prepared in breach of the provisions of the IBAC Act, and is invalid and ineffective,“ their submission read. “In his prayer for relief, Mr Woodman seeks interlocutory and final orders, including an injunction restraining the publication of the impending IBAC report and damages resulting from the reputational damage caused by his public examination.“ In response, the watchdog argued none of Mr Woodman’s grounds for appeal had any merits. The IBAC Act states an examination can be held in public if there are “exceptional circumstances“, it is in the public interest and won’t cause “unreasonable damage“ to a person’s reputation, safety or wellbeing. The Supreme Court last year blocked the watchdog from tabling its final report into Operation Sandon after Mr Woodman claimed he wasn’t given a reasonable opportunity to respond to a draft report. The court ordered IBAC to provide footnotes supporting adverse findings made against him, allowing the developer further time to respond. IBAC’s submissions allege Mr Woodman provided his response in January but he sought a fresh injunction in May after becoming aware of media stories that the report’s delivery to parliament was imminent. The primary judge dismissed the case, citing the lawyer for Mr Woodman having raised no issue when informed of IBAC’s decision to examine him in public and the “egregious and unexplained“ three-and-a-half year delay in his complaint. Continued page 5
Narre Warren artist Katherine Bennett with one of her amethyst crystal bonsai trees. 348739 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
Bonsai creativity blooming into new life Narre Warren’s Katherine Bennett has discovered a new passion in breathing new life into old bonsai trees. The KB Crystal Design owner repurposes old bonsai trees from local nurseries by lacing the trees with high-quality gemstones.
“One day I looked at crystal trees and I thought, I reckon I could do better than that,“ she said. “So I taught myself, and I’ve been doing it ever since.“ Story page 10
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