Robert Deans moved to Sydney in 1987 to make his fortune.

Key points: Robert Deans had plans to redevelop the Sydney Fish Market

Robert Deans had plans to redevelop the Sydney Fish Market His car was firebombed outside his home while his young family slept inside

His car was firebombed outside his home while his young family slept inside He and police believe his car was attacked due to his involvement in the redevelopment

Within 24 hours of stepping off the train from Guyra, in northern New South Wales, he was driving a taxi. Thirty years later he is now the owner of a multi-million-dollar commercial realtor in Sydney's inner-city.

Mr Deans is also a dreamer. In 1999 he became involved with the Sydney Fish Market. He saw an opportunity to transform the rundown market into a grand new seafood centre, and also give back to the city that gave him so much.

Instead, the fish market has become Mr Deans' white whale. Over almost two decades he has encountered corruption, the leaking of commercially sensitive information to his competitors, and pitched battles with the fish market.

Always the optimist, Mr Deans persisted. Then, about 1:00am one night in November last year, someone crept up to his Sydney home, poured petrol or a similar combustible liquid over the family car, and torched it.

"The car was on fire. The flames were going right up to the balcony," he said.

The balcony was attached to the room where his two daughters, aged eight and 10, were sleeping. The flames were almost four metres high and, had he and his neighbours not extinguished them, would have been only seconds away from setting his house alight.

"The smoke had filled up the girls' room and gone through the doorway and set off the alarm in the hallway," he said.

"Their lives were in jeopardy."

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'It was definitely related to the fish market'

The interior of Robert Deans' car after it was firebombed in his driveway. ( Supplied: Robert Deans )

As he stood in the front of his house surveying the damage, he knew without a doubt why he had been targeted.

"It was definitely related to Blackwattle Bay and my involvement in the Sydney Fish Market redevelopment. It's been a nightmare for us," he said.

Two weeks later the arsonists struck again. This time they slipped up and only managed to set the driveway alight, not the car.

NSW Police have formed a strike force to investigate the attacks and have identified suspects.

Mr Deans blames organised criminals for the threat to his family, but says the State Government should also be held responsible for the attacks.

"Mike Baird has allowed poor governance and behaviour to continue on and it's spiralled into this," Mr Deans told 7.30.

Mr Deans, who bought a business at the fish markets in late 2015 and is now the equal largest shareholder, has broken his silence about the attacks because he feels abandoned by the system.

"It's been awful, the experience. I had no idea it was going to be this terrible," he said.

"I think you're here for a short time and you hope to make a difference. I thought this was one way I could make a difference.

"But to risk my family's lives ... I wish I'd never been involved at this particular point."

Meeting with Eddie Obeid

Robert Deans met with former NSW minister Eddie Obeid, who is now serving time behind bars. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

In 1999 Mr Deans became involved with the Sydney Fish Market as part of a commercial real estate deal, and by 2002 he had created a plan to redevelop not just the fish market but a whole swathe of land around Blackwattle Bay.

Interest from the Government, and the fish market's management and shareholders, waxed and waned over the years, and Mr Deans refined his plans based on feedback. His most recent plan involved moving the fish market to a wharf on the bay's east side, extending Wentworth Park to the bay's edge and building a cultural centre that celebrates the role Indigenous tribes have played in the area.

His attempts to generate interest led him to dozens of meetings with Government officials. In 2008 he encountered one of the most powerful of them all, NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.

"I didn't care who was there as long as someone was listening and that we might have been able to move a solution forward," he said.

In August the next year eyebrows were raised when an Obeid family associate, harbour cruise company owner Joe Elias, was awarded the $15 million to $20 million lease to a key spot of land adjacent to the fish market.

A two-stage tender process was recommended, but NSW Maritime overruled that at the first stage and declared Mr Elias the winner.

Mr Elias was cleared of any improper behaviour during a subsequent probity hearing.

'I never thought this sort of stuff happened'

Robert Deans has had redevelopment plans for the Sydney Fish Market since 2002. ( ABC News: Raveen Hunjan )

Mr Deans came close to convincing the Government and the Sydney Fish Market to consider his proposal, but fell short each time.

In recent years his involvement with the market led to a suite of court cases, including with the market's management.

In 2013, two years after the Coalition took power, he secured a meeting with 10 government agencies and thought he had finally broken through.

Five days later Liberal Party donor and property developer Multiplex started securing contracts with stakeholders at the fish market. Mr Deans is convinced they only did so because they were tipped off by the Government that Mr Deans was making headway.

He is now barred from entering the Sydney Fish Market site, and late last year Mr Baird announced the Government was embarking upon a redevelopment of the fish market. Mr Deans, who has fought about half-a-dozen court cases and has lost millions of dollars, did not provide a proposal.

"There's no way that I would've thought that it'd come to this," he said.

"Of course, I'm a dreamer and I thought this is an amazing opportunity for Sydney that I can help deliver ... but it's gone from something that could've been a great outcome [to] my house is being attacked, my family is being attacked," he said.

"I would never have thought that in Australia this sort of stuff happened."