A senior planning department official spent $3.8 million on a north shore property just months before the public release of major density reforms, then floated the prospect of lobbying the NSW government to more than double proposed building heights at the site.
Liberal frontbencher Alister Henskens used parliamentary privilege on Thursday to allege there was a “strong circumstantial case” a senior bureaucrat was motivated to buy a property by confidential information about a government housing reform likely to dramatically increase its value.Sydney Morning Herald can now reveal a senior official in the NSW Department of Planning purchased a property in Gordon in mid-August. This masthead has chosen not to name the senior bureaucrat. The five-bedroom home, set on a 1000 square-metre block, is located about 290 metres from Gordon train station, one of the 31 transport hubs identified for a density uplift as part of the state government’s signature housing pus