Minns disclosed IPG shares, says department

The NSW government’s Customer Service department says Property Services and Strata Commissioner John Minns is “providing full support” to its inquiries following allegations surrounding his investments in a property management company.

Last week, a report on ABC news tied Mr Minns to investments in the property management company Independent Property Group, alleging that he had misled the government – his employers – and the public when he said he had sold out of the company.

Commissioner Minns accepted that his family trust owned shares, worth about $750,000 in the company, but denied having misled NSW Customer Services, claiming that it had taken longer to sell the shares – leftover from his initial divestment – than he had thought it would.

Significantly, Mr Minns has been overseeing an independent investigation into strata management giant Netstrata, following separate ABC revelations that the company had sidestepped regulations requiring it to declare commissions on insurance premiums, as well as allegations about kickbacks from service providers.

Following the ABC report, Minister for Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, asked for an urgent review of the matter. This week Fair Trading referred Flat Chat’s questions about the new allegations to Customer Service, which is Mr Minns employer.

“The Department of Customer Service [DCS] considers governance of its employees of highest priority,” a spokesperson said. 

“The DCS Secretary is examining the claims involving Property and Strata Commissioner John Minns and his financial interest in ACT real estate business Independent Property Group. 

“Mr Minns has disclosed his involvement with the business to the Department on several occasions and is providing full support to the review.” 

While some observers might dismiss this as “small war, not many dead”, others may see it as a significant undermining of the government’s very public efforts to boost public confidence in strata management in the wake of the ongoing Netstrata scandal and subsequent inquiries.

This is far from clear cut. Mr Minns did not deny having the holdings, said he told Customer services about them and, in any case, the company operates almost entirely in the ACT.

ABC Four Corners reporters, including Linton Besser who ran the first explosive report on Netstrata, discovered the family trust holding when efforts to sell Mr Minns’ shares turned up on the notice for an IPG extraordinary general meeting, after Mr Minns was first invited to give the interview to the program in which he would deny that he had misled the government.

“The agreement was that I no longer had an interest in the business beyond what hadn’t been paid out [in 2021],” he told the ABC.  

“What I would have hoped [was] to have been further paid out much sooner than the three year period that we’re dealing with now. I’ve made it very, very clear at all stages with the NSW government, and it was accepted by the secretary [of the department] at the time.”

An article from last year on the Netstrata website, hailing the appointment of Mr Minns as strata commissioner, describes him as a “visionary in property leadership”.  Ironically, it goes on to say: “It’s worth noting that John Minns divested his interest in Independent Property Group in mid-2021, underlining his commitment to this new endeavour.”

To be fair, most people who have met or dealt with John Minns describe him as an affable, honest and a decent bloke.  But the question remains whether the fallout from this embarrassing faux pas will pass the strata pub test.