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Orange Grove AffairThe Orange Grove affair is an ongoing political scandal in Australia concerning the dealings of the New South Wales state Australian Labor Party government with multinational corporation The Westfield Group. It resulted from the forced closure of the Orange Grove shopping centre after a zoning dispute, with the loss of approximately 450 jobs. Westfield, who owned a nearby shopping centre, had challenged the Orange Grove centre in the courts, arguing that it was improperly zoned and should be closed down as a result When the courts ruled in Westfield's favor, the Orange Grove centre's last chance of remaining open fell to the state government, who could have used ministerial powers to allow it to remain open. When they declined to intervene, despite a planning report suggesting that course of action, the Orange Grove centre was forced to close. However, the state Opposition subsequently unearthed information about a meeting between Premier Bob Carr's chief of staff and a prominent Westfield employee, sparking allegations that interference from Westfield had played a role in the government's decision not to intervene. As a result, a parliamentary inquiry was commissioned, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption announced an investigation. Both are still ongoing, as of December 2004. In early 2003, Sydney businessman Nabil Gazal proposed plans to build a shopping complex consisting primarily of factory outlets in a light industrial area of the Sydney suburb of Liverpool. They were successful in obtaining planning permission to build the Orange Grove centre, and in November, the council rezoned the area to allow the centre to be built. It subsequently commenced trading that same month, with Craig Knowles, the local member and state Planning Minister, attending the official opening. Soon after its opening, however, The Westfield Group, which operates a large shopping centre elsewhere in Liverpool, commenced legal action in the Land and Environment Court, arguing that a retail outlet operating out of an industrial zone was unacceptable. In January, the court ruled in favour of Westfield, and this verdict was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal in March. While the dispute had been ongoing, the Carr government had sacked the strife-torn Liverpool council, after a series of incidents of economic mismanagement, and Gabrielle Kibble, the daughter of former Governor-General John Kerr, had been appointed as administrator of the municipality. When the centre was ruled illegal, Kibble came up with a proposal that would haveallowed the centre to continue operating, but it needed the approval of Assistant Planning Minister Diane Beamer. As the date for the centre's closure, set for mid-2004, drew closer, both sides increased the pressure. Westfield declared that an AU$150 million revelopment of its own centre was under threat if Orange Grove was allowed to continue operating, and suggested that Orange Grove could cause the loss of up to AU$18 million a year from the local economy. When Beamer announced that she would not be approving Kibble's proposal, Gazal, Orange Grove's owner, signed statutory declarations alleging that he had been told by Labor member Joe Tripodi that the retrospective approval would be denied by Beamer. Furthermore, he alleged that Tripodi had told him that Carr had directly instructed Beamer to reject the proposal after having contact with Westfield. Gazal's allegations received substantial media attention, and led to both the state opposition and the Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph becoming involved. It subsequently emerged that planning reports had supported the rezoning of the centre, due to the number of jobs that would be lost if it were to close. Opposition Leader John Brogden tabled a draft press release in parliament that would have announced Beamer's decision to support Kibble's proposal. It also emerged that Mark Ryan, a senior Westfield lobbyist, had telephoned Graeme Wedderburn, the Premier's chief of staff, on April 15, 2003, two days after Kibble had publicly supported the rezoning. Wedderburn had then met Ryan and Craig Marshall, another Westfield executive, on April 19. Though Wedderburn strongly defended his actions, he also publicly admitted that Orange Grove had been the focus of these meetings. On July 8, Beamer rejected the proposal. Premier Carr, Wedderburn and Beamer were all to face strong questioning from the media over alleged links between the two events.
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