Barangaroo review suggests a conflict of duty on design panel

THE author of a review of Barangaroo says two members of a design panel chaired by the former prime minister Paul Keating had a conflict of duty because they were also working for others with an interest in the panel's deliberations.

Meredith Sussex declined to identify the two panel members whose conflicts she said had not been made sufficiently clear to all members of the design panel.

''If you have two organisations to which you are equally responsible, you potentially have a conflict of duty … they don't necessarily exclude you but they have to be made clear,'' she said yesterday.

Her report criticises the governance of the Design Excellence Review Panel set up by the former planning minister Kristina Keneally in June 2009 to oversee Barangaroo's design.

It says a new panel should be reconstituted with a series of changes to rectify governance and management issues.

Mr Keating quit as panel chairman in May, vowing to not be muzzled by the Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, who had asked him to desist from attacking Barangaroo critics.