Page 397 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 13 May 1992
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I am very concerned about this because this report was to do a great deal of good for the racing industry because we would have some reliable, we thought, information upon which to work. It seems that politics is working into it now and I have some doubt as to the objectivity of these sorts of reports. I think any reasonable thinking person in the street would be of a similar view. It affects the ACT Government even further because ACIL - you would remember that name - - -
Mr Humphries: Yes.
MR BERRY: You ought to, because you commissioned ACIL to do a report on trading hours in the ACT. Now, how reliable is that report? What sort of objectivity have we there, or is that just another political report?
Mr Cornwell: I would hate to take a point of order on relevancy here, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: You can try to take all the points of order that you like. What I am pointing out to you is that we have a consultancy which, on the face of it, has got itself involved in politics and in advising the Liberal Party on how it should operate, and it is using information which it really should have been providing only to its clients.
The serious situation for the Government now is that we have to work out what we will do with the ACIL report on trading hours in the ACT. We have to consider whether or not that report can be considered to be objective. I must say that I am starting to have some reservations. After reading this document that was tabled in this Assembly this morning I would have to say that the racing Ministers would be having some reservations, too, because they would not know - - -
Mr Humphries: I doubt it.
MR BERRY: Mr Humphries says that he doubts it. He might know one of the racing Ministers who has had something to do with the report to the Liberal Party; I do not know.
Mr Humphries: This is a beat-up, Wayne, by you, so I do not think they are going to take much notice of that.
MR BERRY: I do not know about a beat-up. In my view, and I think many other people will form this view, some commercial-in-confidence information has been available to somebody who should not have received it. The report was due, I think, to come to racing Ministers in about September this year. I will be writing to racing Ministers drawing to their attention all that has occurred in relation to this matter, because we really have to work through it to ensure that the best interests of racing, not only in the Territory but across Australia, are served. They will not be served with these sorts of breaches of the confidence that I would expect to be persisted with by consultants who are dealing with reports on behalf of governments or various governments.
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