Premier Dominic Perrottet has revealed a confidential resignation letter from the NSW building commissioner has been referred to the state’s independent corruption watchdog.
David Chandler resigned abruptly last month, prompting speculation about the circumstances of his departure amid scrutiny over the conduct of recently dumped minister Eleni Petinos, to whom he reported.
Former NSW fair trading minister Eleni Petinos, former building commissioner David Chandler and Premier Dominic Perrottet.Credit:Wolter Peeters, Kate Geraghty, NCA Newswire
Perrottet on Wednesday revealed during question time that Chandler’s resignation letter was sent to the secretary of the Department of Customer Service, who referred it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on August 1.
Petinos was sacked over workplace bullying allegations the day before the letter was sent to ICAC. She had denied the bullying allegations.
“This is a personal letter related to an employment matter. I’ve been advised by the secretary that appropriate action was taken by her in relation to the contents of the letter,” Perrottet said.
“Out of the abundance of caution, the letter was provided to the ICAC for information.”
The NSW opposition on Tuesday said it would use Legislative Council powers to compel the government to release the letter after it was revealed that Petinos met representatives from a property development company that employed former deputy premier John Barilaro. The letter is expected to be released to the upper house on Thursday.
The opposition has queried the meetings between Petinos and Coronation Property, given a stopwork order had been placed on one of its major projects. Chandler had oversight of stopwork orders and whether to revoke them. It is not yet known whether Chandler’s resignation letter relates to that issue.
Both Petinos and Barilaro have issued statements saying that Barilaro was not in attendance at a June 2 meeting between Petinos and Coronation Property.