Former New South Wales Labor minister Tim Crakanthorp has been found to have breached the public trust and substantially breached the ministerial code after an investigation by the state’s corruption watchdog.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) made no finding of corrupt conduct when it handed the report to the NSW premier, Chris Minns, on Wednesday.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has called on the Newcastle MP to resign from parliament and for Minns to expel him from the party, but the premier said he would not do so despite agreeing that the conduct was not OK.
The investigation was launched last year when it was discovered the Newcastle MP had allegedly failed to declare “substantial private family holdings” in the Hunter region relating to his wife’s family. Crakanthorp was the minister for the Hunter.
Neither Crakanthorp’s wife nor her family were accused of any wrongdoing.
The matter was referred to Icac after Minns sacked Crakanthorp from cabinet in August after a series of disclosures from the minister about Newcastle properties.
In its report, released publicly on Thursday, Icac found that Crakanthorp had beached the public trust when he “knowingly failed to declare a conflict of interest arising from interests” in property held by him, his wife and his in-laws.
“That such failure constituted a breach of public trust,” Icac found.
The properties were in or around Broadmeadow and the Hunter Park sport and entertainment precinct in Newcastle. Since it was elected in March, the government has been discussing a number of developments relating to each of the areas.
The commission also found that Crakanthorp’s “conduct in participating in meetings when minister for the Hunter that could affect his and his extended family’s properties constituted a breach of public trust”.
The commission found Crakanthorp’s “failure to declare a conflict of interest in all the circumstances was done knowingly” because he knew about his and his extended family’s holdings and “told the commission he had concerns about having a conflict of interest”.
“Mr Crakanthorp was aware of his duty to disclose his conflict and yet failed to do so while he participated in meetings about those developments and publicly supported the development,” Icac found.
“A failure to declare a conflict of interest in those circumstances is a breach of public trust.”
The commission found Crakanthorp’s conduct “constituted substantial breaches of the [ministerial] code” by failing to declare his conflict of interest as required and by participating in meetings relating to the conflict.
“He attended meetings with ministers and others who were involved in the proposed government action on four occasions and he declared no conflict of interest on any of those occasions,” the report said.
The report outlined that the former minister “submitted that the commission would find that he participated in these meetings solely for the purpose of enabling him to identify and manage his potential conflict of interest”.
Icac rejected that.
Crakanthorp said he accepted the findings and would “continue to represent my community to the best of my ability”.
“It is clear that I should have done more and for that I am deeply regretful,” he said.
“This has been a difficult time for not only myself but for my wife and kids.”
Minns said he would not expel Crakanthorp from the party, nor move to remove him from parliament.
“Removing him from the cabinet was the right decision to make in August, and I also want to confirm that he will not be returning to the NSW cabinet as a member of the Labor Party,” he said.
“But I won’t be moving for him to be removed from the parliament.”
Speakman said Crakanthorp should resign from parliament immediately.
“If he fails to do so, premier Chris Minns should move to have him expelled from the NSW parliamentary Labor Party and not rely on his vote on the floor of the legislative assembly,” he said.
“This will be a test of Premier Minns’ commitment to integrity in government.”
The Icac found no breach relating to concerns Crakanthorp may have claimed travel expenses when he was travelling for personal reasons.
Crakanthorp has been contacted for further comment.
