The NSW minister accused of improper interference before preselection

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig pushed to speed up a tribunal submission and influence a Labor mayoral preselection despite protests that his involvement was improper, according to secret parliamentary evidence.

In-camera evidence from Office of Local Government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth alleged Hoenig spoke five times about the submission being compiled for the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) case against former Bayside mayor Bill Saravinovski.

Whitworth alleged at a committee hearing that Hoenig told him on five occasions across late 2023 and early 2024 to accelerate the OLG’s evidence to NCAT because of Saravinovski’s looming preselection, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Saravinovski, who spent 40 years on Rockdale and Bayside councils, was dumped from Labor’s ticket just weeks before the local government elections in September last year. In February, NCAT found Saravinovski guilty of misconduct on three grounds and issued a reprimand.

On the first two occasions when Hoenig allegedly asked to speed up the submission, Whitworth responded by saying the involvement of a minister in such a process was improper, sources reported of Whitworth’s evidence. Whitworth referred the misconduct report to NCAT on March 27, 2024.

Whitworth said in evidence at a September 19 hearing that Hoenig’s repeated urgings came despite his protests and led him to consider resigning.

Whitworth, who has 30 years’ experience in the bureaucracy, instead wrote to the Privileges Committee in his capacity as a private citizen, rather than as a public servant, which circumvented the minister.

“Given these proceedings were in-camera, I make no comment,” Whitworth said in response to questions from the Herald.

On June 4, Whitworth wrote in a public parliamentary submission: “While the issues of then Councillor Saravinovski’s potential preselection, the timing of the hearings and any public knowledge of the proceedings, were raised with me by Minister Hoenig, we were both clear it was not a matter that I was going to engage in as the decision maker under the Local Government Act 1993.”

Confronted with Whitworth’s submission during a budget estimates hearing on September 2, Hoenig repeatedly denied having ever discussed Saravinovski’s preselection with his deputy secretary.

“Don’t put words in my mouth. I didn’t discuss Bayside Council preselection with him,” Hoenig replied.

Hoenig also said he was “never made aware” that Saravinovski would be dumped from Labor’s ticket, and found out the former mayor’s 21-year-old son would replace him from a “Labor Party circular”.

The committee was not satisfied with Whitworth’s public submission and he agreed to appear at the in-camera hearing on September 19.

In response to questions from the Herald, Hoenig said he was limited in what he could say because of the proceedings against Saravinovski, but he reiterated his evidence from budget estimates and denied being involved in preselections.

“I have no knowledge, nor any interest, in the proceedings of some upper house committee,” he said.

“As a state MP, I have a longstanding practice of not being involved in any local preselections concerning any of the four councils in my electorate, nothing changed in 2024.”

Saravinovski will appear in court in November over allegations he provided misleading evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on three separate occasions, including denying that he provided confidential council documents to a property developer.

The allegations involve Saravinovski’s alleged relationship with developer Ali Abrahim (also known as Ali Ibrahim), who had a longstanding proposal to redevelop a council car park in Brighton-Le-Sands.

During the September estimates hearing, Hoenig said he knew “absolutely nothing” about the car park redevelopment proposal “until after the NCAT hearing” in November last year.

In the February NCAT judgment, Saravinovski was found to have engaged in misconduct on three grounds. One, Saravinovski’s failure to fully disclose his relationship with Abrahim, related to the matters pursued by the ICAC.

The other matters involved Saravinovski’s behaviour during council meetings, including yelling and swearing at staff and inadvertently knocking a water bottle off a desk.

The Herald is not suggesting the allegations against Hoenig are true, only that they were made at an in-camera parliamentary hearing.

A spokesman for the Office of Local Government did not address Whitworth’s evidence during the confidential hearing, only to say it was a matter for the parliamentary committee.

“A Citizen’s Right of Reply was made to address the repeated references in Legislative Council debates to matters where Mr Whitworth was bound by non-disclosure provisions under NCAT and ICAC legislation, limiting the ability to provide responses,” he said.

“The decision to seek a Citizens’ Right of Reply was a personal matter for Mr Whitworth.”

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