Five pages into a submission to a NSW parliamentary committee in June, Office of Local Government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth buried a bombshell.

The correspondence alleged that last year, Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig raised the potential preselection of Labor Bayside mayor Bill Saravinovski and the “timing ... and any public knowledge” of a NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) misconduct case against him.

The submission was unorthodox because Whitworth made it as a private citizen. Hoenig’s most senior public servant suggested the local government minister had improperly interfered in a Labor Party matter. Hoenig has denied speaking to Whitworth about Labor preselections, and the Herald does not suggest the allegation is true.

“Was this a message in a bottle?” a

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