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Is a husband a ‘close associate’? Council hopeful caught out on property developer declaration

A candidate standing for Ku-ring-gai Council declared no connection to any property developer – despite her husband repeatedly declaring himself to be one in local Facebook groups.

Wendy McKasah, a candidate running under a Liberal-led ticket in the council’s Wahroonga ward, ticked the box on the public candidate information sheet that said: “I am not a property developer.” The form includes a note that says the definition “includes a person who is a close associate of a property developer”.

Is a husband a close associate? The electoral form from Wendy McKasah, on a ticket for Ku-ring-gai Council.

Is a husband a close associate? The electoral form from Wendy McKasah, on a ticket for Ku-ring-gai Council.Credit: NSW Electoral Commission

But her husband, Wadif McKasah, owns a construction company in the area and has posted in multiple Facebook community groups that “I’m a property developer”.

“I’m a property developer and welcome sensible development,” he said in one group in a long post about transport-oriented development. “However there seems to be a ridiculous no thought process to many decisions made [at council].”

Wendy McKasah, a candidate at the Ku-ring-gai Council elections.

Wendy McKasah, a candidate at the Ku-ring-gai Council elections.

In a comment on a post in another group, he said: “Please do not call me an activist. I am not a member of any group. I’m a property developer and builder with a reasonable understanding of development.”

Wadif McKasah most recently built and sold a North Turramurra property in 2023, he told the Herald when contacted by phone on Friday morning. He has also, in a business partnership, built and sold several townhouses in Parramatta. But he said his business was focusing primarily on constructing homes.

“Am I a property developer? It’s a difficult one, because I’ve tried to find out and I can’t know,” he said.

A “property developer” is defined in the Electoral Funding Act 2018 as someone “mainly concerned with the residential or commercial development of land, with the ultimate purpose of the sale or lease of the land for profit”, and who has one planning application being currently considered, or at least three over the past seven years.

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