The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2023:
The NSW government is in disarray just five weeks from the state election as one of Premier Dominic Perrottet’s most senior ministers and closest confidants was forced to quit cabinet after it emerged he owned shares in the tolling company that controls most of Sydney’s motorways.
The premier was also forced to reveal on Friday that one of his parliamentary secretaries had stood down amid a scandal involving intimate photos he shared.
Finance minister and leader of the government in the Legislative Council Damien Tudehope quit just hours after he confirmed he held shares in Transurban, which owns the majority of tolling concessions across Sydney, including WestConnex, NorthConnex and the M2.
Perrottet sought legal advice on Friday afternoon over whether Tudehope “knowingly breached” any disclosure rules under the ministerial code of conduct.
In a statement late on Friday, Perrottet confirmed the advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet had “cleared Damien” however Tudehope had decided to resign from cabinet…..
Upper House MLC Peter Poulos resigned on Friday from his secretary role amid internal anger after an admission he shared explicit images of Hawkesbury MP Robyn Preston in the lead-up to a bitter preselection battle. Poulos has apologised to Preston, who modelled as a Penthouse “pet” in the 1980s.
In a major embarrassment for Perrottet, Tudehope on Friday confirmed he held shares in tolling giant Transurban, which owns the majority of tolling concessions across Sydney, including the WestConnex motorway, NorthConnex and the M2.
Tudehope said he had unknowingly held the shares in a family superannuation fund, but insisted he gave a “printout of the assets” contained within that fund to both Perrottet and former premier Gladys Berejiklian.
He said the Transurban shares were sold overnight, and conceded they had risen in value considerably since he was appointed minister in 2019. Tudehope said he would donate to charity any profit he made, which he expected to be about $6000.
Tudehope said he did not recuse himself from cabinet over discussions involving Transurban because he did not know he owned the shares as the superannuation fund was managed by a fund manager…..
[my yellow highlighting]
Financial Review, 17 February 2023:
Transurban recently reported record half-year earnings of $1.66 billion, boosted by some $835 million in tolls collected from Sydney drivers over the course of the past six months.
Mr Tudehope was a cabinet minister during the Berejiklian government’s decision to sell the WestConnex toll road to Transurban for $11 billion in 2021. More recently, he took part in a number of cabinet decisions to provide toll relief to NSW drivers.
Earlier, he denied being “involved in any discussions relating to WestConnex” and claimed he “was not on the relevant committee or relevant cabinet meetings”.
“The first thing is whether there was a significant impact, and whether I knowingly breached the code of conduct, and I have to say, I didn’t know that I held those shares at the time that I participated in policy decisions relating to Transurban,” he said.
It should be noted that Liberal MLC Damian Francis Tudehope has been a Member of the Legislative Council since 23 March 2019 having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly from 28 March 2015 to 1 March 2019.
He had been NSW Minister for Finance as well as Minister for Employee Relations since 21 December 2021, having been appointed to both ministries by Premier Perrottet.
On 21 December he also became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council and Vice-President of the Executive Council.
Damian Tudehope is reported as resigning as NSW Minister for Finance, Minister for Employee Relations and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council on Friday 17 February 2023. Presumably he also resigned from the Executive Council.
Tudehope had previously been finance & small business minister during the Berejiklian Government years from 2 April 2019 to 21 December 2021.
Before entering parliament he practiced as a solicitor.
Interestingly, Damian Tudehope had been Chair of the Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 3 June 2015 to 22 February 2019 and, a Member of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics from 29 March 2017 to 22 February 2019. Committee terms which should have seen him well acquainted with the ins and outs of of issues such as pecuniary interests and conflicts of interest.
According to ABC News on 17 February 2023; ...like Mr Perrottet, [Damien Tudehope] has links to the the Catholic Church's conservative Opus Dei organisation.
It appears the families may know each other well. The Linkedin entry of the premier’s younger brother Jean-Claude Perrottet shows that he was an Electoral Officer for Damian Tudehope MP from March 2018 to March and 2019 and Policy Advisor for Damian Tudehope MLC Minister for Finance and Small Business.
The “family superannuation fund” to which Mr. Tudehope was referring is possibly a self-managed superannuation fund titled Claiyear Pty Limited ATF The Tudehope Superannuation Fund (est.1998) or perhaps even Imtaga Pty Limited ATF Tudehope Family Trust (est.1985), as set out in his Disclosures By Members Of The Legislative Council form dated 31 March 2021. Although the latter registered company was missing from his disclosure of pecuniary interest form signed on 20 September 2022.
ASX Graph of Transurban Group (TCL) Share Price & Dividends issued 14 March 1996 to 17 February 2023
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| https://www2.asx.com.au/markets/company/tcl |
This graph shows 20 dividend issues to shareholders over a 10 year period. Not a shareholding one would normally expect to be overlooked in the investment portfolio of any politician.
As a member of the NSW Upper House Damian Tudehope does not stand for re-election until his term of service expires at the end of the 58th Parliament (05 Mar 2027).
It is not outside the bounds of possibility that if the Perrottet Government is re-elected on 25 March 2023, Damian Tudehope will be restored by Premier Perrottet to a Cabinet-level ministry or ministries and a place on the Executive Council.
In fact as recently as last Saturday, Premier Perrottet left the door open to reinstating Tudehope after 25 May; "Mr Perrottet, who described Mr Tudehope as a man of "the highest integrity and honesty", was quizzed on Saturday about whether he would consider making him a minister again post March 25. "I'll make those decisions in due course," the Premier told reporters."
The last time Damian Tudehope did Dominic Perrottet a favour — by vacating his Lower House seat in order for Perrottet to contest the 2019 election in a preferred safe seat — he was amply rewarded. I have a strong suspicion that both men understand that he will be similarly favoured this time around.
UPDATE
In an effort to walk back just one of the Premier's errors of judgement the NSW Liberal Party has acted.....
The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 2023:
"This afternoon, the State Director, in consultation with the State President, exercised campaign powers to suspend Peter Poulos from the NSW Division for a period of 6 months," a spokesperson for the Liberal Party said in a statement.
This in no way stops Poulos standing as a nominal Independent at the 25 March state election. Nor does preclude him changing from Independent MLC back to Liberal MLC in 2024 should he be re-elected in 33 days time.
BACKGROUND
North Coast Voices
Friday, 17 February 2023
And the rolling political disasters continue to arrive on NSW Premier Perrottet's doorstep
