The governmentâs $29.8m purchase price was $26.7m more than the âfair valueâ reported in the infrastructure departmentâs financial statements, the ANAO said.
Fletcher â who is now the communications minister â has previously defended his handling of the matter, saying he had been presented with a âhighly inadequate briefâ that did not outline the landâs true value.
The advice the department provided to Fletcher has now been revealed, with the Coalition releasing a bundle of documents in response to a Senate âorder to produceâ. They were all tabled in the Senate.
A document prepared in late January 2018 and marked for Fletcher but also copied to the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said the department had held discussions with the owner, the Leppington Pastoral Company, âover the last few yearsâ.
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The billionaire Perich family are among about a dozen landowners near Sydney’s second airport to have avoided the state government acquiring their land for an $11 billion metro rail line after a decision was made last year to tunnel under farmland instead of crossing it.
A cabinet in confidence report shows Sydney Metro, which is delivering the rail project, was preparing to acquire about five hectares from the Perichs at Bringelly in western Sydney.
The report, which detailed a strategy for acquiring land, had recommended that entering a dialogue with one of the Perichs companies should be treated as a priority .