Sister-in-law of Angus Taylor called state office of environment and told them she was an MP and had done nothing wrong

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Bronwyn Taylor, the New South Wales mental health minister, personally lobbied the state Office of Environment and Heritage to drop an investigation into alleged illegal native grassland clearing on a property she owns with her husband.

The call was revealed in documents tabled in the NSW upper house on Friday that were requested by the state opposition following a Guardian Australia investigation.

Bronwyn Taylor is the sister-in-law of the federal energy minister Angus Taylor.

The documents tabled state that in August 2018, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) received a report of “potential unlawful clearing of native grasslands” on a property in Nimmitabel, in the NSW Monaro region, that is owned by Fairross Pty Ltd.

Fairross is owned by Bronwyn Taylor and her husband, Duncan Taylor.

The documents state that Duncan Taylor called the OEH on 13 September 2018 and identified himself as the property owner.

On the same day, Bronwyn Taylor made a separate call to OEH in which she “advised OEH that she was a member of the state parliament but was calling as the landowner”.

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“Minister Taylor stated that they had done a self-assessment of the grassland and the area in question was not comprised of over 50% native ground cover, meaning that an offence had not been committed,” the document says.

Under NSW law, landholders can clear grassland without approval if it comprises less than 50% native species.

The paper, which was written as a response to a question without notice, says OEH concluded their investigation on 2 October 2018 and found no evidence that the clearing was in contravention of the Local Land Services Act.

“OEH found that the landholder had undertaken their own assessment which indicated to them that the grassland was comprised of less than 50 per cent native species,” it says.

Bronwyn Taylor said on Friday that OEH had investigated a complaint in 2018 and “following a review of photographic evidence, determined that Fairross had met all of the requirements set out by Local Land Services”.

“As the landholder, I spoke to the OEH officer who was handling the complaint. I disclosed that I was a member of parliament and that I was calling in my capacity as a landholder,” she said.

“I asked OEH to fully investigate the complaint.

“OEH determined that the complaint was vexatious and that there were no grounds on which to proceed with any further action.”

But NSW Labor’s acting leader, Penny Sharpe, said the phone call was not appropriate.

“It is not acceptable for a government MP to call a government office, identify themselves as an MP in the government, and then seek to influence an active investigation into their own conduct,” she said.

“Minister Taylor must immediately explain her conduct.”

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The NSW OEH said it could not comment on the details of an investigation.

Guardian Australia revealed last week that Angus Taylor met senior federal environment officials and Josh Frydenberg’s office in 2017 to discuss the government’s designation of critically endangered grasslands.

At the time of the meeting, federal and state investigations were under way into alleged illegal clearing of Monaro grasslands on another property the Taylors hold an interest in near Delegate in NSW.

That property is owned by Jam Land Pty Ltd. Angus Taylor’s brother Richard is the director of Jam Land, Angus Taylor himself holds an interest via his family investment company Gufee, and his brother Duncan and sister-in-law Bronwyn also hold an interest via Fairross.

Bronwyn Taylor was questioned in the NSW parliament last week about whether she sought to influence the state government’s submissions about the federal decision to upgrade the listing of the grasslands to “critically endangered” in 2016.

The question was ruled out of order because it related to Taylor’s personal actions and not her ministerial responsibilities, so she did not answer.