Former NSW politician Richard Torbay received one of the largest personal donations ever recorded months after organising a successful meeting between then planning minister Tony Kelly and Cameron McCullagh, a Sydney accountant who wanted a heritage order lifted on a mansion he owned.
''Richard, I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can give in arranging a meeting with Minister Kelly,'' wrote Mr McCullagh to Mr Torbay in an email in June 2010. Two years earlier, Mr McCullagh, 49, a former associate director of Macquarie Bank, and his wife Georgiana, 48, spent $3.8 million purchasing ''Peroomba'', a grand estate on 4150 square metres, from the Windeyer family.
Before: Peroomba, a large period property in Warrawee.Credit: Graham Quint
The house in Harrington Avenue, Warrawee, was built in 1938 by award-winning architect William Rae Laurie for his brother-in-law Sir Victor Windeyer, who became a High Court judge. However, the McCullaghs' plans to knock it down and rebuild hit a significant hurdle when Mr Kelly placed a 12-month interim heritage order on June 15, 2010.
Government documents obtained by Greens MP John Kaye reveal that Mr Torbay, who was then speaker of the Legislative Assembly, facilitated a meeting with the minister. The Department of Planning issued a briefing note titled: ''Meeting with Richard Torbay and Cameron McCullagh Re: Peroomba.''
After: The house was knocked down and rebuilt by Cameron McCullagh after a heritage order was listed.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The meeting, which occurred on June 23, 2010, was set up following Mr McCullagh's complaints to Mr Torbay that Peroomba was structurally unsound and had no heritage listing when he bought it in November 2008.
Mr McCullagh, a partner at Steadfast insurance brokers, also sent an email to Cameron White, in the department's heritage branch,
informing him that Mr McCullagh's own expert ''considers the property does not warrant heritage listing''.
He also demanded to meet with heritage officers before their report was completed and, if this was not done, ''I will wish to speak to the Minister's Office''.
Period piece: The historic interior of Peroomba before it was knocked down and transformed by Cameron McCullagh.Credit: Graham Quint
He said in his email he had ''assurances that this will be possible at very short notice''.
Despite a draft independent heritage assessment deeming the property had significant local heritage value, on August 13, 2010, Mr Kelly lifted the interim order saying in a media release: ''The heritage assessment concluded Peroomba does not meet the threshold for listing on either the State Heritage Register or Ku-ring-gai's Local Environmental Plan.''
The facilitator: Richard Torbay.Credit: Jim Rice
Peroomba was in ''poor condition'' and had ''extensive cracking to masonry walls and other defects … extensive remedial work would be required to stabilise the building,'' Mr Kelly said.
The McCullaghs then demolished the house.
"The heritage assessment concluded Peroomba does not meet the threshold for listing": Tony Kelly.Credit: Nick Moir
Mr Torbay is "highly effective and the sort of person I want in politics".
Four months later, on December 21, 2010, Australian Electoral Commission records show Mrs McCullagh's private company GEMG donated $100,000 to Mr Torbay, the independent MP for the Northern Tablelands.
Mr McCullagh told the Armidale Express last year the donation was because Mr Torbay is ''highly effective and the sort of person I want in politics''.
"I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can give in arranging a meeting with Minister Kelly": Cameron McCullagh.
Greens MP Dr Kaye said on Wednesday: ''It is hard to identify why the speaker was advocating on behalf of the McCullaghs''.
''His seat is hundreds of kilometres from both the property and the residential address of its owners. The subsequent campaign donation raises legitimate questions,'' Dr Kaye said.
Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
Mr Torbay, a close ally of former powerbroker Eddie Obeid as well as Mr Kelly, dramatically resigned in March from State Parliament and as chancellor of the University of New England after allegations concerning separate donations were referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mr Kelly is facing possible criminal charges after the ICAC recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions consider prosecuting him for forgery and using a false document over the purchase of the former union retreat Currawong in the dying days of the Labor government in March 2011.
Mr Torbay and the McCullaghs did not return Fairfax Media's calls. Mr Kelly was unable to be contacted.
Meanwhile, the neighbours in Harrington Avenue are aghast at the McCullagh's construction of a six-bedroom mansion complete with turrets, tennis court, swimming pool and a rock climbing wall.
''There's nothing like it in the street,'' said one, adding, ''It says: 'We've got money, but no taste'.''