Property developers have been included in the City of Melbourne’s civic delegation for the upcoming Asia Business Mission that has a focus on the green economy and health sector. 

In September, the Lord Mayor Nick Reece, Cr Kevin Louey, Cr Gladys Liu and Cr Philip Le Liu will embark on a trip to Chengdu, Nanjing and Tianjin in China, as well as to Osaka in Japan.

Costing $20,470 per councillor, the trip is intended to explore opportunities to foster exchange between cities and develop trade and investment links.

A total of 24 business civic delegates will also attend. However, while council reports have said the delegates will represent the green economy and health sectors, there is crossover with the property industry.

A list of delegates seen by Southbank News shows that founder of Landream, Kevin Li, who has a $1.6 billion pipeline of projects, will be a part of the civic delegation for the Japan leg of the trip.

The director of McMahon Property Group, Ben McMahon, will also be a part of the delegation, due to his strong ties with China’s business and cultural sectors.

In addition to these developers, there are several delegates who work within the property industry, including Kelvin Cheong, the managing director of Brady Group (capital), a specialist property firm that offers tailored investment and structured funding solutions.

Greg Gong and Kei Kitayama from architectural firm Denton Corker Marshall will also be in attendance.

To select the delegates, there was a formal expression of interest process targeting export-ready businesses and engagement with key industry bodies, and activation of referral networks to broaden outreach.

Delegates were selected through a process involving interviews, due diligence checks, and suitability assessment against key criteria and whether they aligned with mission’s objective and sectoral focus. 

However, Tran Siu, a former Brimbank councillor convicted in 2011 of giving false information and authorising unregistered how-to-vote cards during a 2008 election campaign, is also among the delegates.

Mr Siu will travel to both China and Japan in his capacity as director of Pacific Trading Alliance (EBOS Group) – Australasia’s largest diversified healthcare and animal care distributor.

The remaining 19 delegates are predominately from the health and education sectors, including Frank Mcguire from Global Village Learning and Mish Eastman from RMIT University.

Councillors Kevin Louey, Gladys Liu and Phil Le Liu will join Lord Mayor Nick Reece for the Asia Business Mission.

The Australian Chinese Business Council also has a strong presence on the trip, with the president Rhys Roberts, vice president Celina Yu and Phoebeanca Luong all taking part. According to the council’s election donation returns register, Ms Yu donated $600 toward Nick Reece’s Lord Mayoral tilt.

It is also understood that on the trip, there are networking events that people not on the official delegate list have been invited to, which includes businesspeople from the property, health and education sectors.

All official delegates are participating on a fee-for-service basis and are responsible for arranging and funding their own flights.

Cr Andrew Rowse will also travel to Shanghai to participate in the 2025 World Top-Performing Incubator Forum (WTIF), taking place from September 22 to 23.

Additionally, the City of Melbourne has announced that the Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell and Cr Rowse will represent the council on a business mission to India in November.

In the same month, the Lord Mayor is also expected to travel to Brazil for the World Mayors Summit and Local Leaders Forum.

“Too much is done here with scant regard for those who are paying the bill,” Cr Owen Guest told Southbank News. “Where’s the value and respect for the ratepayers here?”

Cr Owen Guest.

Cr Guest stated that there was no proven case for all the trips and expressed disappointment at the lack of information provided.

According to council reports, it is expected that around $80,000 will be spent on the councillors alone. However, Cr Guest said that he had so far been unable to obtain any accurate costings.

Uncertainty surrounding the rationale for the trip also led Cr Davydd Griffiths to abstain from voting on a motion for the Asia Business Mission at the September 3 Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) meeting.

He said he would like more detail before voting – particularly greater specificity around the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to be signed, as well as a complete list of delegates, which at the time of the meeting had not been provided to councillors who were not taking part of the mission.

As part of the business mission, councillors will attend a number of networking events and on Friday, September 19, a “Friends of Melbourne Night” will be held.

At the event, the Lord Mayor will deliver a speech, a networking dinner will be hosted, and an MoU signing ceremony will take place.

The council hasn’t confirmed who will be in attendance at this event, however some sources have indicated that around 120 will be invited, with property sector representatives among them. •