Press - 14 -16 July 2009
The West Australian 16 July 2009
Legacy of Triffids far from trivial
BY SIMON COLLINS - Music Editor
While Colin Barnett wrote off The Triffids as trivial yesterday, the Perth pop band’s many fans and accolades suggest the Premier is way off key.
Led by late singer and songwriter David McComb, the ARIA Hall of Famers are regarded as one of the greatest bands to emerge from Perth, albeit a hidden treasure that enjoyed more fame in Europe than at home during their 80s heyday.
In London, a plaque marks the building where The Triffids recorded their seminal 1986 album Born Sandy Devotional while a retrospective concert in Belgium three years ago sparked a resurgence in appreciation for the home-grown six-piece.
The Triffids were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame last year and fans packed into the Perth International Arts Festival’s Music Box in February for three reunion concerts with guest vocalists replacing McComb, who died in 1999.
While the legacy of The Triffids does not need a heritage listing to survive, The Cliffe is intrinsic to the history of the beloved Perth band.
Founding member and drummer Allan “Alsy” Macdonald, a senior lawyer with the Equal Opportunity Commission, said the sprawling 115-year-old jarrah homestead was The Triffids’ headquarters.
McComb would write songs in his bedroom or the granny flat, before the band would flesh out the new material during rehearsals in the big cellar or flat.
Even when the Triffids moved to Sydney and then Britain, they would return to The Cliffe to rehearse when they were in Perth.
Macdonald said the surviving members did not instigate the campaign to save The Cliffe, but they did not want to see it bulldozed. “It’s hard to imagine that someone wouldn’t want to preserve it and keep it,” he said. “Why would you want to destroy a building like that?”
A close childhood friend of McComb with many fond memories of The Cliffe, Macdonald said that The Triffids link was one factor among many for protecting the homestead.
“If it was just a normal three-bedroom, two-bathroom house anywhere in the suburbs maybe that argument wouldn’t carry as much weight,” he said. “But when you’re dealing with a unique property it adds to the strength of the argument.”
The West Australian 16 July 2009
Garrett rejects national heritage
bid for homestead
BY BEATRICE THOMAS
An application to have The Cliffe emergency-listed on the national heritage register has been rejected by Federal Heritage Minister Peter Garrett on the Grounds that it has no “outstanding heritage values to the nation” and was not under significant threat.
Perth-born Sydney public servant Brian Waldron, who was at the centre of allegations to the Corruption and Crime Commission over Premier Colin Barnett’s role in the 1894-built homestead being removed from the State heritage register, took up the issue with Mr Garrett.
However, a spokesman for Mr Garrett confirmed yesterday The Cliffe would not be added to the national heritage list.
“The Minister was asked to consider if the pace was of outstanding significance to the nation and following an assessment by his department of the site against the nine National Heritage List criteria it was determined that it did not fit this classification,” he said. “The Minister has therefore decided against granting an emergency listing.”
The criteria for consideration of heritage listing includes that a place exhibit outstanding national heritage values or be under “likely and imminent threat of a significant adverse impact”.
A 13-year battle by millionaire prospector Mark Creasy to demolish the Bindaring Parade house came to a head May last year when the Upper House upheld an unprecedented decision by then-heritage minister Michelle Roberts to remove it from the register. It came less than nine months after Mr Barnett, then a backbench MP, raised a grievance on the issue in Parliament.
Last October, Mr Waldron wrote to Shire of Peppermint Grove telling the council he had asked Mr Garrett to visit The Cliffe when he next visited WA because “as an artist himself, he is familiar with the work of the late Dave McComb”.
McComb and his brother Robert, or ARIA Hall of Fame band The Triffids, grew up at the Cliffe.
The AUSTRALIAN 16 July 2009
Colin Barnett attacks Triffids fans
on misconduct claim
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has lashed groupies, roadies and fans of The Triffids for dragging him into misconduct claims surrounding the post-punk band's birthplace.
Mr Barnett yesterday described a complaint to the Corruption and Crime Commission about his key role in stripping The Cliffe of its heritage protection as "bordering somewhere between mischievous, malicious and even criminal". The complaint was made by career public servant Brian Waldron -- a regular visitor to the wooden Perth mansion as a teenager when he befriended The Triffids' singer and songwriter, Dave McComb, who died in 1999 aged 36.
Mr Waldron runs the Save The Cliffe website with another friend of the band, rock photographer Bleddyn Butcher, who is writing a biography of McComb, and former Triffids guitarist Graham Lee.
The website's petition to prevent The Cliffe's demolition has about 800 signatures, including from most former band members.
"This is not about Colin Barnett, it is not about the Corruption and Crime Commission, it is not about the heritage or architectural merits of The Cliffe house in Peppermint Grove -- it is about The Triffids," Mr Barnett said yesterday.
It was his third successive day answering questions over his role in getting The Cliffe taken off the state's heritage list in a move that helped the owner, multi-millionaire miner Mark Creasy, the largest shareholder in a company chaired by Mr Barnett's son Russell.
Mr Barnett and Mr Creasy have said the allegation is without foundation and Mr Barnett said he was unaware of any link at the time. "The people who are making the complaints are former fans, or groupies or roadies, of The Triffids," Mr Barnett said.
"This is about a 1980s pop group who had some nice songs, one of them my son got up for me on YouTube last night, and I thought it was a nice song, but that's what it's about, it's about The Triffids."
Liberal and Labor MPs voted together last year to make The Cliffe the only house in Western Australia to be removed from the State Register of Heritage Places by parliament.
Yesterday, architect Philip Griffiths, deputy chairman of the Western Australian Heritage Council, said: "The Triffids were not part of the reason the place was included in the state register -- it was put on for its aesthetic and historic values."
Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Creasy, Paul Armstrong, said he was willing to sell the property for a fair market price. "I have been waiting since 1995 for these people who say they are interested in the property to come up with a scheme to buy it and restore it," he said.
The AGE newspaper 15 July 2009
Corruption claims are false: WA premier
BY ANDREA HAYWARD
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has accused campaigners for the heritage listing of a Perth property of making "false and malicious" corruption claims against him.
Mr Barnett is at the centre of a complaint lodged with the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), which has since been referred to the speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The premier disclosed on Monday that a complaint against him had been made following parliamentary approval for the removal of a heritage listing on The Cliffe, a Peppermint Grove residence in Mr Barnett's Cottesloe electorate.
It was the childhood home of members of the Australian rock band, The Triffids, the late Dave McComb and his brother Robert McComb.
The owner of the property, millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, has fought a lengthy battle to remove the property from the state's heritage register so it can be developed.
Mr Creasy is a shareholder of Freedom Eye, a company chaired by Mr Barnett's son Russell Barnett.
Mr Barnett says he was unaware of the association between his son and Mr Creasy until after the complaint was made.
On Thursday Mr Barnett said his son was unaware of the issues surrounding The Cliffe.
"My son didn't even know about The Cliffe," Mr Barnett told ABC Radio.
"He only actually knew where it was a couple of days ago."
And for anyone to suggest that my son, as a highly qualified and respected business person, an independent chairman and director of several companies, would behave in that way, frankly is outrageous,
"And to suggest that Mark Creasy and other directors would have behaved that way is outrageous." The accusations were false, malicious and "without foundation", Mr Barnett said.
"The complaint is spurious, it is false and I guess, depending on you point of view, it is anywhere on a range from being mischievous, to malicious, even criminal," he said.
The complainant is Brian Waldron, a Sydney-based man campaigning to retain The Cliffe's heritage listing because of its links to the Triffids.
Without naming Mr Waldron, Mr Barnett said the media should be questioning the motives of the complainant.
"This has attracted a lot of media attention and fair enough, I'm the premier, I can cop that," he said.
"Why not a bit of media attention on the people making the accusation; where's their credibility, where's their evidence?"
Mr Barnett said it was a desperate attempt by Triffids fans to save The Cliffe.
"It's not about Colin Barnett, it's not about my son Russell Barnett, it's not about the heritage value of the house, it's not about the parliament," he said.
"It's about The Triffids! It's about the Triffids! Don't you get it? It's about the Triffids!"
Labor MP and former WA heritage minister Michelle Roberts is also the subject of a conflict of interest complaint handed to the CCC in relation the delisting of The Cliffe.
Mr Barnett backed Mrs Roberts' decision to remove it from the heritage register, saying the property was "a wreck" and "falling apart".
"I went to the property, I had a look at it, I formed my own view," Mr Barnett said.
"Other experts ... well, experts ... looked at it.
"Michelle Roberts looked at it and to her credit as then minister came out and then looked at it and basically concurred with me."
The removal of The Cliffe's heritage listing, which required bipartisan support, set a precedent in the WA parliament.
WA BUSINESS NEWS 15 July 2009
Corruption claims malicious: Barnett
AAP
Premier Colin Barnett has accused campaigners for the heritage listing of a Peppermint Grove property of making "false and malicious" corruption claims against him.
Mr Barnett is at the centre of a complaint lodged with the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), which has since been referred to the speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The premier disclosed earlier this week that a complaint against him had been made following parliamentary approval for the removal of a heritage listing on The Cliffe, a Peppermint Grove residence in Mr Barnett's Cottesloe electorate.
It was the childhood home of members of the Australian rock band, The Triffids, the late Dave McComb and his brother Robert McComb.
The owner of the property, millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, has fought a lengthy battle to remove the property from the state's heritage register so it can be developed.
Mr Creasy is a shareholder of Freedom Eye, a company chaired by Mr Barnett's son Russell Barnett.
Mr Barnett said he was unaware of the association between his son and Mr Creasy until after the complaint was made.
Today Mr Barnett said his son was unaware of the issues surrounding The Cliffe.
"My son didn't even know about The Cliffe," Mr Barnett told ABC Radio.
"He only actually knew where it was a couple of days ago.
"And for anyone to suggest that my son, as a highly qualified and respected business person, an independent chairman and director of several companies, would behave in that way, frankly is outrageous,
"And to suggest that Mark Creasy and other directors would have behaved that way is outrageous."
The accusations were false, malicious and "without foundation", Mr Barnett said.
"The complaint is spurious, it is false and I guess, depending on your point of view, it is anywhere on a range from being mischievous, to malicious, even criminal," he said.
The complainant is Brian Waldron, a Sydney-based man campaigning to retain The Cliffe's heritage listing because of its links to the Triffids.
Without naming Mr Waldron, Mr Barnett said the media should be questioning the motives of the complainant.
"This has attracted a lot of media attention and fair enough, I'm the premier, I can cop that," he said.
"Why not a bit of media attention on the people making the accusation; where's their credibility, where's their evidence?"
Mr Barnett said it was a desperate attempt by Triffids fans to save The Cliffe.
"It's not about Colin Barnett, it's not about my son Russell Barnett, it's not about the heritage value of the house, it's not about the parliament," he said.
"It's about The Triffids! It's about the Triffids! Don't you get it? It's about the Triffids!"
Labor MP and former WA heritage minister Michelle Roberts is also the subject of a conflict of interest complaint handed to the CCC in relation the delisting of The Cliffe.
Mr Barnett backed Mrs Roberts' decision to remove it from the heritage register, saying the property was "a wreck" and "falling apart".
"I went to the property, I had a look at it, I formed my own view," Mr Barnett said.
"Other experts ... well, experts ... looked at it.
"Michelle Roberts looked at it and to her credit as then minister came out and then looked at it and basically concurred with me."
The removal of The Cliffe's heritage listing, which required bipartisan support, set a precedent in the WA parliament.
The AUSTRALIAN Financial Review 15 July 2009
Creasy supports Barnetts’ denial
BY JULIE-ANNE SPRAGUE
Millionaire mining identity Mark Creasy rejected allegations last night that West Australian premier Colin Barnett’s son Russell stood to benefit from his father’s role in successfully campaigning to help Mr Creasy over-come a decade-long property battle.
Mr Creasy denied he was a business associate of Russell Barnett, who is chairman of pharmaceutical company Freedom Eye, where Mr Creasy is the biggest shareholder.
“I have never discussed the property with Russell Barnett and contrary to some reports, I am not, nor have I ever been, a business associate of his,” Mr Creasy said in a statement released last night.
His comments came after the Premier was forced to defend allegations that his successful campaign to lift heritage restrictions on Mr Creasy’s multi-million dollar property The Cliffe last year was for the benefit of his son, after a complaint was lodged with the State’s powerful Corruption and Crime Commission.
Mr Creasy said it was “laughable” to suggest that Premier Barnett became involved to benefit his son.
“As a shareholder in Freedom Eye with a stake of 4.4%, worth about $37,000, there is nothing I could have done that would have been of any benefit whatsoever to Russell Barnett,” he said.
Russell Barnett also rejected the allegations and said he had not spoken to or met
Mr Creasy since he took the board position in July 2007. Mr Creasy was a Freedom Eye shareholder six years before Mr Barnett joined the company, after a recapitalisation by Kirke Securities, where Mr Barnett is a director.
It also emerged yesterday that energy minister peter Collins, who urged his parliamentary members to support the removal of Mr Creasy’s property from the heritage register last year is a shareholder in Croesus Mining. [A correction published in Financial Review of 17th July reported that Mr Collier sold his Croesus shareholding when he was appointed a minister in September 2008.] Mr Creasy has been a long-time Croesus shareholder with his stake increasing to 45 per cent a month before Mr Collier raised the issue in parliament.
Acting opposition leader Roger Cook called for the Premier to remove himself from overseeing the CCC while allegations into his conduct were “live”.
Mr Cook said while Mr Collier’s shareholding might not be a technical conflict of interest, it created the potential for a perception of a conflict of interest.
The complaint was lodged by Sydney-based Brian Waldron, who has campaigned to prevent The Cliffe being demolished for a number of years.
The CCC has referred the complaint to Legislative Assembly speaker Grant Woodhams, who can refer it to the powerful procedures and privileges committee.
The West Australian 15 July 2009
Cliffe activist reported Barnett
BY BEATRICE THOMAS and ROBERT TAYLOR
Campaigners to save historic homestead The Cliffe were concerned that Colin Barnett’s 2007 involvement came less than six weeks after his son was appointed director of a company whose biggest shareholder owned the property.
Perth-born Sydney public servant Brian Waldron is understood to have written to the Corruption and Crime Commission in March highlighting the connection between the Premier’s son Russell with Freedom Eye Ltd.
The owner of The Cliffe, mining millionaire Mark Creasy, has a 4.4 per cent share of the biotech company.
Mr Waldron belongs to a small but vocal group of heritage enthusiasts calling for the Peppermint Grove home, built in 1894, to be restored and re-listed on the State heritage register.
He did not return calls yesterday but photographer Bleddyn Butcher, who started the website “save The Cliffe” with Mr Waldron, confirmed Mr Waldron made the complaint.
Mr Butcher said he and Mr Waldron were childhood friends of the late David McComb, who with his brother Robert was part of ARIA Hall of Fame band The Triffids and was raised at The Cliffe.
Mr Butcher said he and Mr Waldron were concerned about the timing of Mr Barnett’s grievance in State Parliament in 2007 to remove The Cliffe from the heritage register. Mr Waldron subsequently wrote to CCC commissioner Len Roberts-Smith.
“Brian drew the commissioner’s attention to the amazing coincidence of the fact that Russell Barnett was appointed director of (Freedom Eye) on July 20 and six weeks later Colin got up on his feet and said there was a grievance about The Cliffe,” he said.
“That would make more sense than anything else because there doesn’t seem to be any other motive for taking it off.”
Russell Barnett has said he had not spoken to Mr Creasy in 20 years and had never discussed The Cliffe with his father. The Premier yesterday stood by his comments that he only became aware of the association between Mr Creasy and his son’s company when Mr Roberts-Smith informed him of the complaint last month.
It is understood Mr Barnett had followed the issue before 2007 and visited The Cliffe in 2006 with then heritage minister Michelle Roberts.
Mr Waldron has applied to Federal Heritage Minister Peter Garrett for an emergency listing of The Cliffe on the national heritage register.
Mrs Roberts agreed with Mr Barnett’s assessment of the house and removed it from the heritage register, a decision supported by both Houses of Parliament last year. Yesterday, she dismissed complaints to the CCC about her role in removing The Cliffe from the register and asked why the CCC had not done the same.
Mr Waldron claimed Mrs Roberts ignored the advice of the Heritage Council but yesterday she said the minister was under no obligation to take or table the advice of the Heritage Council.
Mr Creasy said it was laughable for anyone to suggest that Colin Barnett became involved in the matter to benefit Russell Barnett or than Russell could have benefited from the issue.
The issue is likely to be dealt with by the privileges committee when Parliament resumes next month.
ABC News On-line 15 July 2009
Barnett in war of words over
heritage row
The WA Premier Colin Barnett is under fire for his attack on a man who made a complaint against him to the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
Brian Waldron asked the CCC to investigate his concerns about Mr Barnett's role in having a Cottesloe property taken off the state's heritage list.
There is a link between Mr Barnett's son and the property's owner, and it has been suggested that this relationship was the motivation behind Mr Barnett's actions.
It is something the Premier strongly rejects, and this morning he described the complaint as mischievous, possibly malicious and bordering on criminal.
He also said the allegation was a desperate attempt by fans of The Triffids to save the house, which was used by the band in the past.
The comments upset Mr Waldron, who is a long time campaigner for the protection of the property.
"I think it was disappointing that the Premier has to resort to attacks on our integrity and insults," he said.
The Premier's comments also drew criticism from the Opposition which described them as an extraordinary attack on Mr Waldron.
The Acting Opposition Leader Roger Cook says Mr Barnett has the right to defend himself but his reaction is over the top.
"That process should be allowed to take its course, as the Premier said it should do on Monday," he said.
"It's only today now that the Premier has decided that the best form of defence is attack and we believe that the best form of defence is attack and we believe the attack is unwarranted, and it's unfair."
A complaint has also been lodged against Labor back bencher and former government minister Michelle Roberts.
The allegation also relates to the property, and Mrs Roberts' role in its removal from the heritage register.
The CCC has referred the case to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Grant Woodhams who says the complaints against Mr Barnett and Mrs Roberts are being treated seriously.
Mr Barnett says it would be a waste of time and money for a parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations, but Mr Woodhams says it is an option he is considering.
"I treat it seriously but whether the allegations are serious I don't know," he said.
"I think there's an expectation from the public when this sort of document involves elected members that some course of action is undertaken."
PERTH NOW online 14 July 2009
Call for Barnett to stand down
from CCC role
BY ANDREA HAYWARD
WA Premier Colin Barnett should stand aside from his role overseeing the state's corruption watchdog amid allegations of misconduct, the Opposition says.
Mr Barnett revealed on Monday a complaint against him had been lodged with the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
He said he was informed on June 30 that the complaint involved him seeking the removal of The Cliffe, a Peppermint Grove mansion, from the state's heritage register.
The Cliffe was the childhood home of members of the Australian rock band, The Triffids, Dave and Robert McComb.
The owner of the property, millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, has fought a lengthy battle to remove the property from the state's heritage register so it can be developed.
Mr Creasy is a shareholder of Freedom Eye, a company chaired by Mr Barnett's son Russell Barnett and a constituent of the premier's seat of Cottesloe, in Perth's affluent western suburbs.
But Mr Barnett said he was unaware of the association between his son and Mr Creasy until after the complaint was made.
The complaint has been passed on to the speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Grant Woodhams, who must decide if the matter will be dealt with by a parliamentary privileges committee or handed back to the CCC.
Acting Opposition Leader Roger Cook said the premier should stand aside as the minister for the CCC while the issue was live.
"It's important that the Premier stand aside as the Minister for the Corruption and Crime Commission,'' Mr Cook said.
"It is not tenable that you have this live issue of allegations into the Premier's conduct while you have the Corruption and Crime Commission reporting directly to the Premier,'' he said. "
It's important that he stands aside and allows the Attorney-General or some other minister to undertake the day-to-day responsibilities for that portfolio while those issues are live.''
Mr Cook said it did not matter whether the CCC or the privileges committee handled the case, but that the process was open and accountable.
The AUSTRALIAN 14 July 2009
CCC handballs Barnett over The Cliffe
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE Corruption and Crime Commission has flicked to parliament a complaint about West Australian Premier Colin Barnett's role in the saga of the birthplace of pop-rock group The Triffids.
Former Labor heritage minister Michelle Roberts has also been dragged into allegations of misconduct over the rare jarrah mansion The Cliffe.
Sydney man Brian Waldron, who has campaigned to prevent The Cliffe from being demolished, complained about each of the politicians to the CCC in April and May this year.
The CCC's response to Mr Waldron's complaint, obtained by The Australian, states that the watchdog has given it careful consideration and made preliminary inquiries.
But the allegations against Mr Barnett and Ms Roberts centre on statements made in parliament, and are outside the CCC's jurisdiction.
In his letter of reply to Mr Waldron, Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith said he had referred the complaint to the speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Grant Woodhams, for consideration of the privileges committee that he chairs.
The Cliffe is owned by millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, who bought it from the parents of The Triffids' lead singer, the late David McComb, for $2.7 million in 1995.
Mr Creasy and his lawyers have long argued the home is dilapidated, and that he should be allowed to demolish it or move it to another site.
Last May Mr Barnett paved the way for the demolition or removal of the 14-room gentleman's residence _ built entirely of jarrah in 1894 _ when he moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly that it be scrubbed from the State Register of Heritage Places.
The motion passed with the support of both Labor and Liberal MPs, but Mr Waldron's complaint to the CCC alleges Mr Barnett's involvement was inappropriate since his son is the chairman of a company in which Mr Creasy has an interest.
Mr Barnett said the claim was without foundation, since he did not know at the time that Mr Creasy had an interest in one of the companies in which his son was involved.
He took action on The Cliffe because he was Mr Creasy's local MP and because he believed the building was in a dilapidated state.
Ms Roberts, who is accused in the CCC complaint of misconduct by failing to tell fellow MPs of the heritage council's advice that The Cliffe should be saved, also denies any wrongdoing.
In 1994, the National Trust classified The Cliffe and its coach-house, stables, summerhouse, servants' cottages and part of the original gardens as a rare example of a mansion built entirely of local old-growth jarrah.
It sits on about 4800sqm high above the Swan River in one of Perth's most historic and expensive suburbs, Peppermint Grove.
It was once a larger property but parts of it were sliced off and sold for housing - in the 1990s one of those properties was central to the family brawl over the estate of the great-grandfather of actor Heath Ledger.
ABC News On-line 14 July 2009
Company rejects Barnett
misconduct claims
The company linked to misconduct claims against Western Australia's Premier has rejected the allegations.
Colin Barnett yesterday revealed he is the subject of a complaint to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).
The complaint centres around allegations that Mr Barnett tried to benefit his son, Russell Barnett, by helping a constituent Mark Creasy have his Peppermint Grove property, known as The Cliffe, removed from the Register of State Heritage Places.
The motion was approved by both houses of Parliament in 2007 when Colin Barnett was a backbencher.
The Premier says he has since learnt that Mr Creasy is a major shareholder in a company chaired by his son.
In a statement, Freedom Eye has rejected the claims, and said it is receiving advice on how it can protect the company from adverse commercial consequences that might result from the allegations.
The CCC has referred the matter to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
But a group dedicated to saving the historic home says the Premier's role in having the property struck off the heritage register must be investigated further.
Brian Waldron says his group could not understand why the Premier did not want to protect the home, so they contacted the CCC with their concerns.
"We've always found it difficult to understand the motivation for Mr Barnett and the previous Labor government actually taking The Cliffe - an unprecedented step - off the heritage register," he said.
Richard Offen from Heritage Perth says the allegations prove that politicians should not get involved in such matters, which should be left up to a panel of experts.
"We either have a list that protects buildings or we don't," he said.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 14 July 2009
Barnett may face inquiry by CCC
BY ROBERT TAYLOR
Premier Colin Barnett faces the prospect of a Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry over allegations he had a conflict of interest when he moved in State Parliament to have an historic Peppermint Grove residence removed from the State heritage register.
The Cliffe is owned by millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, who has since won a demolition order over the 115-year-old building from Peppermint Grove shire.
Mr Creasy is the biggest shareholder in Freedom Eye Ltd, a biotechnology company chaired by Mr Barnett’s son Russell.
Mr Barnett revealed yesterday that a complaint had been lodged with the CCC claiming that his motivation in having The Cliffe removed from the heritage register was to benefit his son.
The CCC has passed the complaint to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Grant Woodhams, who is also chairman of Parliament’s powerful privileges committee which investigates misconduct allegations against politicians.
Under the CCC Act, the privileges committee can opt to hand the complaint back to the CCC for investigation as it did in the case of MPs John McGrath, John Quigley and Ben Wyatt 10 months ago.
That investigation resulted in no findings of misconduct against the MPs but effectively destroyed the ministerial ambitions of Mr McGrath.
Mr Barnett said the allegations were false and he denied acting to benefit his son when he argued that the dilapidated building should be removed from the register, clearing the way for demolition.
“I totally reject that I was driven by any other motive than serving a constituent legitimately as a member of Parliament,” he said.
“This complaint is false, it is spurious bordering on the bizarre. However a complaint has been made, the CCC Commissioner has a responsibility to act on that complaint, he has chosen to refer a copy to the Speaker . . . and we’ll see what happens from there on.”
Mr Barnett said he had become aware of the association between Mr Creasy and his son’s company only when CCC Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith informed him of the complaint in writing on June 30.
He said he knew nothing of it at the time he argued for The Cliffe to be removed from the heritage register in Parliament in May last year.
The motion passed through both Houses of Parliament with the support of Labor.
Russell Barnett, who has been a director of Freedom Eye since July 2007, said he had not spoken to Mr Creasy in 20 years and had never discussed The Cliffe with his father.
“I didn’t even know where it (The Cliffe) was before yesterday,” he said.
Acting Opposition Leader Roger Cook said Colin Barnett should remove himself as the Minister responsible for the CCC while the investigation proceeded.
“While they’re undertaking an investigation into him, then surely it’s not appropriate that they report to the Minister,” Mr Cook said.
A spokesperson for Mr Barnett said the Premier would not be moving responsibility for the CCC to another ministry.
Mr Woodhams could not be contacted yesterday but the deputy chairman of the Assembly’s privileges committee, Labor’s Mark McGowan, said he expected the committee to discuss the complaint and decide who should investigate it.
“I’m sure we’ll take advice from the Clerk and proceed from there,” he said.
Mr Creasy did not return phone calls yesterday.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 14 July 2009
Barnett in new twist to saga of The Cliffe
BY PETER KERR
Peppermint Grove shire president Brian Kavanagh expects a resolution of the decade-old saga surrounding the historic homestead The Cliffe by the end of the year.
Mining millionaire Mark Creasy and his wife Sharon have been battling with the shire in the Supreme Court, to redevelop the 115-year-old property since they bought it for $2.65 million in 1995.
Mr Kavanagh said the council would meet on Thursday to consider a report into ways to save the Bindaring Parade property, including a possible relocation to Keane’s Point in Peppermint Grove.
Mr Creasy, who received council permission to demolish The Cliffe last year, has refrained from doing so until being presented on ways to save the building.
The issue flared dramatically yesterday when Premier Colin Barnett revealed he was the subject of a Corruption and Crime Commission complaint over his role in trying to remove the historic house from the State’s register of heritage properties.
Mr Barnett suggested that the complaint alleged he pushed in 2007 and last year to have the house removed to benefit his son, Russell, who is chairman of biotechnology company Freedom Eye, of which Mr Creasy is an investor.
The Premier strongly deigned the allegation yesterday, saying he was acting on behalf of a constituent and was unaware of the link with his son until the allegation was raised.
The CCC said it had referred the matter back to a parliamentary committee. It continues the extraordinary saga of the property, built in 1894.
Soon after Mr Cr5easy bought the property it was listed as protected on the interim State Register of Heritage Places.
In June, conservation expert Ian Hocking found the building was structurally sound and would cost $1 million to $1.5 million to restore, far less than the $2.8 million suggested by Mr Barnett when he brought a motion to have the house removed from the register last year.
But then heritage minister Michelle Roberts agreed with Mr Barnett’s assessment of the house’s dilapidated state and removed it from the heritage register, a decision supported by both Houses of Parliament in May last year.
WAtoday.com.au 14 July 2009
Another senior MP accused of
delisting heritage property
AAP
Senior West Australian MPs from each of the major parties are now facing misconduct allegations over the delisting of a heritage property with rock star connections.
Just hours after acting Opposition Leader Roger Cook called for Premier Colin Barnett to stand aside as minister overseeing the state's corruption watchdog because of a complaint made against him, former Labor heritage minister Michelle Roberts revealed she was also the subject of a complaint.
Mr Barnett disclosed on Monday that a complaint against him had been lodged with the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) following parliamentary approval of the delisting of a heritage council order on a Perth home.
The Cliffe, a Peppermint Grove mansion that lies within Mr Barnett's Cottesloe electorate, was the childhood home of members of the Australian rock band The Triffids, the late Dave McComb and his brother Robert McComb.
The owner of the property, millionaire prospector Mark Creasy, has fought a lengthy battle to remove the property from the state's heritage register so it can be developed.
Mr Creasy is a shareholder of Freedom Eye, a company chaired by Mr Barnett's son and Cottesloe constituent Russell Barnett.
Colin Barnett said he was informed on June 30 of a complaint that he had a conflict of interest in seeking the removal of The Cliffe from the heritage register.
But he said he was unaware of the association between his son and Mr Creasy until after the complaint was made.
Mr Cook said on Tuesday morning that the premier should stand aside as the minister for the CCC while the issue was live.
"It is not tenable that you have this live issue of allegations into the premier's conduct while you have the Corruption and Crime Commission reporting directly to the premier,'' he said.
But Mr Cook later called another news conference to reveal the opposition had learned Mrs Roberts was the subject of a complaint to the CCC in relation to the same matter.
"I've had the opportunity to catch up with Michelle briefly by phone since she is travelling at the moment and she's informed me that she understands that she is not at liberty to talk about the nature of the allegations that have been made against her,'' Mr Cook said.
Mr Cook said he understood the complaint against Mrs Roberts was about her conduct as heritage minister and speeches she made on the The Cliffe issue in parliament.
"My understanding is that Michelle is of the view she acted entirely in accordance with her obligations as minister of the crown, that there was no obligation upon her to disclose any of the vast array of information which would have been presented to her as a minister informing her view,'' Mr Cook said.
In a separate matter last year, when she was heritage minister, Mrs Roberts was questioned over an inner-Perth heritage property she part-owned. Mrs Roberts had allowed the property to drop off the state's interim heritage list because, as minister, she failed to permanently list them within 12 months.
The complaint against Mr Barnett has been passed on to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Grant Woodhams, who must decide if the matter will be dealt with by a parliamentary privileges committee.
A CCC spokesman said that under the CCC Act, it was not the commission's role to investigate the matter.
He said the premier had not breached any privacy provisions by revealing the allegations.
