AFTER speculation that has dogged him since 2016, Logan City mayor Luke Smith fronted the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) in Brisbane today as part of further hearings into Operation Belcarra.
The operation is an investigation into the conduct of local government candidates during the 2016 local government elections for Gold Coast City Council, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Ipswich City Council and Logan City Council (LCC).
Councillor Smith received $377,000 from developers and other businesses that was channelled into a campaign fundraising company called Logan Futures – one of the largest sums of any candidate in Queensland’s local government elections.
Campaign meeting minutes
The hearing initially focussed on two campaign meetings in April and May 2015, prior to the announcement of Cr Smith’s mayoral candidacy. The minutes were titled “mayoral campaign executive meeting”.
Asked to identify the nature of the meetings from the minutes, Cr Smith said they were for general planning, but agreed they showed he was tasked with identifying potential donors to generate a large campaign budget.
The minutes of the April meeting revealed the fundraising target was $500,000.
“Bigger campaigns cost more,” Cr Smith said.
“Yes there were donations. We had a couple of fundraising events. People had the opportunity to donate.”
Incomplete records
When questioned about the nature of the donations received by Logan Futures, Cr Smith revealed that accurate records were not kept.
Cheques and cash were banked without listing creditors, Cr Smith told the commission.
“Some came to me directly, most of them were at functions,” he said.
When asked whether receipts were issued, recording the identity of some donors and the dates and amounts, Cr Smith said: “No”.
When asked if there was any independent record of some donations, amounts, dates and donor identities, Cr Smith said: “No”.
When asked about the third party disclosure return submitted to the Electoral Commission when acquitting donations to his election campaign, Cr Smith said: “We tried to go by memory. We recognise there was human error, which is why the third party was incomplete.”
Conflict of interest
More than $50,000 of the donations to Cr Smith’s campaign came from a company that was unregistered at the time, with the monies paid by Chinese developer Liansheng Yue, who was seeking approval for a 1528-unit resort at Carbrook.
When asked at today’s hearing if he knew the Yue family were property developers at the time of their donation, Cr Smith said: “Yes”.
The commission referred to a June 15 application by the Yue family to LCC in 2016, lodging amendments to the Carbrook development.
“They certainly let me know they were lodging it,” Cr Smith said.
“They were looking at doing something larger. My advice to them was to stick with what they’ve got.
“I drew a line very clearly on conflict of interest I had with donors.”
When asked if Cr Smith was aware that being in receipt of a campaign donation disqualified him from voting in the council chamber on the application, he said: “Yes”.
When asked if he felt any dilemma about voting on the Yue family’s application for amendments, Cr Smith said: “No, I don’t see any concern with that whatsoever. I trust the council teams to make the right decision.”
When asked if he would do the same thing again, Cr Smith said: “Yes I would.”
The CCC hearings continue until June 15. Other witnesses called include Terry Yue, of Australian SN International Developer Group, and Logan Futures director Rhonda Dore.
