Page 544 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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How right he was. Every national newspaper, national television stations, and the Vanuatu press have acknowledged the stupidity and naivety of this Minister's actions.
Mrs Carnell outlined the way in which Mr Berry misled the Assembly and continued to avoid answering questions during November and December. He was given an opportunity to get the record straight. He was too silly to realise that he was being given that opportunity. He continued to extol the benefits of this unfortunate arrangement. Who will ever forget the Minister's own words:
We know a good deal when we see one.
I saw a good deal and went out and grabbed it.
But the Opposition did not relent. We had to do what the Minister did not do. We checked the company, VITAB, its directors, shareholders and representatives. We noted what the Minister said in answer to questioning during February and March. He continued to extol the deal's virtues. He even criticised the Opposition for daring to ask more questions. "It is all a political stunt", Mr Berry said. "Everything is hunky-dory", he said publicly to this house. But was it? The known facts did not back up the Minister's statements, both to the Assembly and, more importantly, to the people of the ACT. On 31 January 1994, VicTAB terminated our access to the superpool. Mr Berry knew that they did and said nothing. "This is all about accountability", he said to this house. He knew that we had been chucked out of the superpool, and he said nothing.
As if saying nothing were not bad enough, he continued to mislead us all by insisting that all was okay. On 22 February Mr Berry told us that Price Waterhouse was commissioned to check the bona fides of VITAB in September 1993 and that the checks were "satisfactory". Let us try to determine what "satisfactory" means. If Price Waterhouse were asked to check only whether VITAB was a company, everything was satisfactory. VITAB was a private company registered in Vanuatu, a tax haven, with three directors - Mr Kolomanski, Mr McMahon, whose signature appears on the contract, and Oak Ltd. Mr Berry had insisted that VITAB was a public company. In Hansard of 7 December 1993 Mr Berry states:
It is a public company, and Tony De Domenico can do a search through the ASC company records, if he wants to confirm that.
If Price Waterhouse or ACTTAB or the Government Law Office or the Treasury or Mr Berry had done what the Liberal Party did - a proper check - they would have found that everything was not satisfactory; that it was not a good deal. Who will ever forget the rigorous checks commenced by Mr Kaine but initiated, in particular, by Ms Follett before confirming another gaming contract - for Casino Canberra? Remember the other gaming contract? Under the Casino Surveillance Authority there were overseas checks, and rightly so; the cleaners were checked, and rightly so. After all, gaming contracts should not be entered into lightly. The Chief Minister is to be congratulated for making sure that everything was satisfactory. In fact, our surveillance procedure is now being adopted in New Zealand, I am told, and in Victoria as one of the most rigorous and fair systems. Well done, Chief Minister.
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