Latest news with #DevelopmentWA
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Foodie festival to take over popular Perth CBD location
Perth's Yagan Square is set to transform into a vibrant hub of food, drink and entertainment when Taste the Square begins on June 4. The festival presented by DevelopmentWA will bring together some of the precinct's most popular venues for 10 days of curated culinary experiences and live performances. It is intended to entice locals, city workers and tourists back into the heart of the city with a program designed to get people eating, socialising and discovering the precinct. Your local paper, whenever you want it. Program highlights includes Bourbon and Brisket at Fat Controller on June 5, where guests will head underground into Stories' hidden speakeasy for a masterclass in slow-cooked meat paired with small-batch bourbons. On June 12, The Shoe will come alive with a Drag Bingo event with Dean Misdale, offering a night of cocktails, cheeky prizes, and cabaret-style performances. Tarot, Tequila & Tacos will take over Pink Taco on June 8 and 15, with Sunday margaritas and tacos and a dose of fortune-telling, with eight-minute tarot card readings available for all ticket holders. Food lovers can also indulge in Chapters of Stories, a progressive dinner experience on June 4 and 11 throughout Stories' restaurants Ugly Baby, alba and KARLA. The Fat controller hidden in Stories will host the Bourbon and Brisket event. Credit: Spectacle Media Saturday afternoons on June 7 and 14 will see Street Beats & Bites. This event offers a relaxed, family friendly vibe at Street Eats complete with live music and delicious street food. And for the foodies who are keen on a bit of everything, Around the World in 10 bites invites guests to take part in a self-guided culinary journey through a variety of different hospitality venues. The event runs from Wednesday, June 4, to Sunday, June 15. Bookings are recommended on the DevelopmentWA website.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Auditor-general finds there 'could have been fraud' at government-owned entity DevelopmentWA
An audit into DevelopmentWA, sparked in part by the conviction of a former public servant who stole millions of taxpayer dollars, has found significant vulnerabilities to fraud at the government-owned entity. DevelopmentWA is one of Western Australia's biggest land and property developers, but unlike commercial developers, it is owned by the state government — meaning any profits or losses belong to taxpayers. Auditor-general Caroline Spencer said the intention of the audit, which looked at transactions between 2017 and 2022, was to determine whether there were irregularities in public land sale information that could indicate fraud, corruption or misconduct. "We have the dubious honour here in WA of the largest known public sector fraud with Paul Whyte," she told ABC Radio Perth's Drive program. "He was the head of the housing authority within the Department of Communities, and so we saw through the Corruption and Crime Commission's hearings that land was identified as a way that you could settle gambling debts if someone was given the heads up — you know, 'buy this land because the government will be buying it in the future'. "And so we saw there a case where a seller got $260,000 profit just by, if you like, buying it in advance of a government purchase. "We wanted to see if there was any unreasonable growth in value, or properties selling too low, over a five-year period [at DevelopmentWA]. Ms Spencer said her office was able to identify a number of serious issues that meant DevelopmentWA was unable to demonstrate value for money had been achieved in all of the public land sales. "We found that one property sold for more than 50 per cent lower than its most recent valuation, with no formal rationale documented on the files, so the most recent valuation was $800,000 and then it was sold for $385,000," she said. "We found 50 per cent of 1,100 properties under a regional stimulus program, during the audit period, didn't demonstrate compliance with approved pricing methods. "We've got a case study of a piece of land that's four times larger than the lot next door drop to the same price with no justification why." Much of the detail in the report highlights issues with appropriate documentation and the following of proper processes, which Ms Spencer said led her to the conclusion that fraud could have been taking place. "If you look at it like Swiss cheese, that you get too many holes and gaps in process and people not doing their job reviewing what's being done by the staff around them and you line up those holes, then you can get things getting through," she said. "So absolutely there could have been fraud within this period." Ms Spencer stressed the importance of DevelopmentWA, and those who work for it, understanding why following appropriate processes was so important. "What you have to understand in this environment is there are commercial interests here … third parties that DevelopmentWA interacts with, they are going to want to sell property for the highest value or buy property from government for the lowest value," she said. "And so every decision that is made by this agency to sell property needs to be properly documented, it needs to be on an approved basis." Another area of concern for the auditor-general was the lax way in which conflicts of interest, gifts and benefits had been handled at the government agency. "Being aware that people are going to seek to influence you and maintaining impartiality so you can have fair dealing with all developers, with all residential or industrial buyers of state-owned land is really important," she said. "We had 891 invitations where the information was incomplete to understand what was the benefit to DevelopmentWA, what was the actual management of that potential conflict of interest by the entity for those staff members." In both her audit and in talking on ABC Radio Perth, Ms Spencer highlighted that a change in leadership at the board level had led to a better culture within DevelopmentWA in recent times, but stressed those changes needed to continue. A number of recommendations were made in the audit, and DevelopmentWA responded by saying while it "believes it has solid foundations of well-defined policies and procedures, it acknowledges best-practice requires constant evolution and improvement". "DevelopmentWA's Board and Executive will build on these audit findings and continue to strive for the highest standards in governance and decision-making robustness," it finished. Ms Spencer tabled the Fraud Risks in Land Transactions by Development WA report in parliament on Wednesday and said her office would continue to have oversight. "This is the biggest audit that my office has done on this organisation. It doesn't normally get this level of scrutiny," she said. "But … we're going to continue to monitor the governance and the transactions and the transfers of state land to ensure that the public interest is served."
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Why Development WA sold a parcel of regional land for $415k less than its value
The state's finance watchdog has accused land developer Development WA of putting commercial interests and expediency before transparency and accountability. Auditor-General Caroline Spencer released the findings of a lengthy probe into Development WA on Wednesday, revealing significant issues around land sales, including missing documents and poor management of conflicts of interest. 'Taken together, the rigour, consistency and curiosity that was absent means Development WA was not, between 2017 and 2022, conducting land sales in a way that minimised the risk of error, fraud and corruption, and is unable to demonstrate that probity and value for money was achieved,' Spencer said in the report. Spencer looked at thousands of land sales from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2022 and found several instances of sales made without available rationale. Block sells for half-price Among those was the sale of a piece of regional industrial land for less than 50 per cent of its valuation price in 2022. Spencer found the piece of land was originally approved to be sold at $600,000, but was dropped to $450,000 in 2020 under a COVID stimulus scheme known as the Temporary Incentivising Regional Land Pricing Policy. In July 2021, Development WA had the land valued, and it was determined to be worth $800,000, but it continued to be marketed at $450,000 and eventually sold in April 2022 for $385,000. 'When we queried why the land was advertised and sold well below the valuation, Development WA advised the valuation was incorrect,' Spencer said.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why Development WA sold a parcel of regional land for $415k less than its value
The state's finance watchdog has accused land developer Development WA of putting commercial interests and expediency before transparency and accountability. Auditor-General Caroline Spencer released the findings of a lengthy probe into Development WA on Wednesday, revealing significant issues around land sales, including missing documents and poor management of conflicts of interest. 'Taken together, the rigour, consistency and curiosity that was absent means Development WA was not, between 2017 and 2022, conducting land sales in a way that minimised the risk of error, fraud and corruption, and is unable to demonstrate that probity and value for money was achieved,' Spencer said in the report. Spencer looked at thousands of land sales from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2022 and found several instances of sales made without available rationale. Block sells for half-price Among those was the sale of a piece of regional industrial land for less than 50 per cent of its valuation price in 2022. Spencer found the piece of land was originally approved to be sold at $600,000, but was dropped to $450,000 in 2020 under a COVID stimulus scheme known as the Temporary Incentivising Regional Land Pricing Policy. In July 2021, Development WA had the land valued, and it was determined to be worth $800,000, but it continued to be marketed at $450,000 and eventually sold in April 2022 for $385,000. 'When we queried why the land was advertised and sold well below the valuation, Development WA advised the valuation was incorrect,' Spencer said.
West Australian
6 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Work starts on 120-lot Yilkari Industrial Estate on Kalgoorlie-Boulder's western edge
Work has started at the Yilkari Industrial Estate on Kalgoorlie-Boulder's western edge, with the first 13 lots of the 138ha development to go on pre-sale next month. The State Government last week said contractor Ertech has started stage one of DevelopmentWA's latest industrial estate in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. When announced in January, the government said the contract with Ertech was worth more than $30 million. The government said the estate on the corner of Great Eastern Highway and Anzac Drive, opposite Anzac Drive Industrial Park, would ultimately have 120 general industrial lots. It said stage one lots would range in size from 2500sqm to 1.8ha, which were expected to attract strong interest from both WA-based and interstate businesses. The government said the 13 lots to be made available by pre-sale next month would be serviced with power, water, NBN, and have direct access to the RAV10 heavy vehicle road network. It said titles are anticipated in July next year. The government said the development was forecast to attract about $200m in private investment and create 700 construction jobs during the next decade. It said once fully operational, the development would deliver 850 new permanent jobs and a $300m annual boost to the local economy. Planning and Lands Minister John Carey said the development of Yilkari Industrial Park would lead to industry diversification and growth for Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the wider Goldfields region. ''These general industrial lots are expected to support the growth in a variety of industries, including mining support services, transport/logistics, fabrication, and manufacturing,' he said. Kalgoorlie MLA Ali Kent said Yilkari would provide a long-term asset to the resources sector but also more opportunities for other industries to get established. 'This high-quality industrial estate will play a crucial role in strengthening the city's long term economy quality development,' she said.
