Excerpt from Sunday Mail Article Published 1st November 2015:
THE Crime and Corruption Commission has been called on to investigate Whitsunday Mayor Jennifer Whitney’s links to a businessman planning a Chinatown style development at Airlie
Beach.
And The Sunday Mail can reveal that a cultural communications officer employed by the Whitsunday Regional Council to liaise with developer Raymond Wang and other potential Chinese investors previously worked for a company co-owned by the businessman.
Queensland University of Technology Professor Mark Lauchs, an expert in local government ethics, alleged there was a clear conflict of interest for the officer, Cherry Cai.
And he claims the Mayor also overstepped the mark by continuing to meet and dine with the businessman, having declared a conflict of interest and abstaining from council discussions and votes involving the $300 million project.