Page 546 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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The Minister hangs himself with these words. The Minister knew on 31 January 1994 that VicTAB had expelled ACTTAB from the superpool. He had such evidence and chose to hide it from the people of the ACT, to mislead us into believing that all was hunky-dory, at least four weeks after he knew that it was detrimental. Even when the new publication, the Canberra News, came out, its 12 March edition had Mr Berry telling everyone how the ACTTAB had won a contract, how Treasury and the Law Office had checked and approved the deal, how Price Waterhouse had undertaken a corporate check. Mr Berry continued to mislead six weeks after he knew that the Victorian TAB had expelled us from the pool.
Finally, on the evening or afternoon of 15 March, Mr Berry could no longer conceal the truth from us all. Six weeks after the event, two weeks after he had continually told the Assembly that all was okay, he announced that Victoria had pulled the rug. What the smart money had predicted from the beginning had finally happened. Out went the press release: "Heaven forbid, we have been chucked out of the superpool". Victoria had taken action. There would be no more access to the superpool, for commercial reasons, said VicTAB. But what did Mr Berry and the chairman of the TAB, Mr Williams, say? They said that it was because of privatisation. Mr Berry misleads us again.
The Victorian Minister for Racing, Tom Reynolds, confirmed in writing that privatisation was not the reason. In fact, Victoria did not finish its privatisation plans until well after 31 January. The Victorian Minister confirmed to the Canberra Times that VITAB was a major reason for the Victorian decision. The New South Wales Minister, Chris Downey, also confirmed that New South Wales would not accept ACTTAB into their pool unless the ACT ditched VITAB. What did Mr Berry tell us on the Mike Cavanagh show on 2CN on Wednesday, 16 March? Mr Cavanagh said:
Mr Berry, it does seem that this has been extremely badly handled.
Mr Berry replied:
There were other State TABs interested in the operation but we were successful and won the deal for the Territory.
The cock continued to crow. Mr Berry continued:
So far as I was concerned, it was money for jam.
Mr Berry also proceeded to blame the Victorian Government, the Treasury, the Law Office, ACTTAB, and the Opposition as well. In the greatest clanger of them all, Mr Cavanagh was running out of time but Mr Berry, still not satisfied, said:
Can I just say something before I go? The survival of the ACTTAB does not depend on linking with another pool.
This Minister, in those few words, showed anybody who knows anything about gaming and TABs that he is not fit to be a Minister for anything. Just reflect on what he said to Mike Cavanagh: "It is not essential to be part of the pool for us to survive". But at the Estimates Committee, this is what Mr Berry said:
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