‘A matter for the party’: Crisafulli defends $100k developer donation
The Queensland premier has waved off questions about a $100,000 donation to the LNP from a developer who was recently given rights to development prime riverside land in Brisbane by the state.
Lancini Property Group was among five developers picked to transform barren land at Hamilton on the river’s north shore that had been picked for the Olympic Athletes Village by the former Labor government.
Its chairman Laurence Lancini is on the government picked Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority Board, which recommended the other sites might be more suitable.
His son, Lancini Property Group chief executive Tomas Lancini, was at the press conference in September with deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie to announce the land would be used for 13 luxury towers, centred by a business hub developed by Lancini, which will also have 1500 apartments.
Two months later, a family trust linked to the developers donated $100,000 to the Queensland LNP, the biggest donation of its kind since the government scrapped a ban on developers making political donations implemented by the former Labor government.
Defending the donation, which was revealed by Electoral Commission of Queensland disclosure logs, the younger Lancini said the family was “supporting the party that is supporting Queensland’s growth”.
On Sunday, Premier David Crisafulli brushed off questions about the donation.
“It’s a matter for the party,” he said.
When pressed about whether it was a good look for his government, the premier said the correct processes had been followed.
“It’s been declared, as it should be, and that’s transparent,” he said.
“That’s an independent process, and it’s declared as it should be, and that’s transparent.”
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing, illegality, or that the donation had any bearing on the government’s procurement decision.
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