“As I advised you, I received a call from the Minister’s office shortly after a draft order was issued regarding the Coronation Merrylands development,” the letter said.
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Shortly after speaking with Petinos’ office, he said he received a message from Barilaro, “who I was informed had recently joined the Coronation Board. That contact came to me as a message on my phone staff requesting a meeting with me.”
Chandler said he copied the message to Hogan and later met with Barilaro to answer his questions. “A separate record of this meeting exists,” he wrote.
His letter singled out the challenges facing NSW’s residential apartment industry as he entered the workforce in 2019 as “frankly horrendous”.
“The rebranding of the NSW residential apartment market is now at a stage where demonstrable public confidence has lifted,” the letter said.
The building commissioner also described the difference in his commitment to the minister’s office after a reshuffle last year saw Petinos take over the portfolio from now-Hospitality Minister Kevin Anderson.
“Unfortunately, the same level of engagement has not been experienced since then. My personal experience has been one where engagement with the minister’s office has been problematic,” he wrote.
“Given where all the above matters stand, I believe my continued role as NSW Buildings Commissioner is no longer viable.”
The NSW opposition used upper house orders to force the government to release the letter after revelations from its former ministerial diary revealed Petinos met with Coronation representatives.
Both Petinos and Barilaro have issued statements saying Barilaro did not attend a June 2 meeting between Petinos and Coronation Property. A second meeting with Coronation on June 21 was disclosed in his newspaper “out of an abundance of caution,” Petinos said.
In question time on Thursday, the prime minister admitted he was told about Chandler’s concerns in a phone call with Hogan on July 31, the same day he fired Petinos, but said the issues ” They were not at all relevant to the decision I made.”
“I had a discussion with the secretary of the department and the main focus of that discussion was in relation to personnel matters,” he said in question time.
Perrottet said he was only told the letter had been sent to the ICAC on Tuesday night.
Opposition Better Regulation and Innovation spokeswoman Courtney Houssos said the premier had yet to explain why he fired Petinos, adding that Chandler’s letter raised more questions.
Houssos said it “doesn’t pass the test of credibility” that Hogan would brief the prime minister on July 31 about the concerns in Petinos’ office and not raise his intention to send Chandler’s letter to the ICAC the following day .
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