Page 549 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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Notwithstanding what may or may not happen after Professor Pearce's inquiry, this Minister should resign. He should resign now and, if he does not, the Chief Minister should sack him. He has failed this house, he has failed the racing industry, he has embarrassed his own party, and he has humiliated the people of the ACT. Madam Speaker, Mr Berry should not be left in charge of any portfolio. His own words have demonstrated that he cannot be trusted. He does not deserve the confidence of this Assembly.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.35): Madam Speaker, the motion of no confidence in Minister Berry that we are debating today quite clearly seeks to pre-empt the inquiry into the circumstances of the VITAB contract that is now being conducted by Professor Pearce. I agree that it is a matter for the Assembly to determine whether it has been misled; but it is quite another matter to maintain, as the Liberals are doing, that the Assembly should reach a decision on the issue before all the facts are available to it. I believe that that is what is occurring this afternoon. It has certainly been the thrust of the arguments put by Mrs Carnell and Mr De Dominic. If we leave aside some of the more trivial points that they have raised, the core of their argument revolves around several of the Minister's responses to questions in the Assembly.
Madam Speaker, their allegation is that the Minister misled the Assembly by saying, as he did, that the deal with VITAB was safe, or that it was a good deal, after he had been informed that the Victorian TAB had given notice of its intention to terminate ACTTAB's participation in the superpool arrangements. I would like particularly to draw attention to the fact that what VicTAB had done was to give notice. In the normal rhetorical hyperbole for which Mrs Carnell and Mr De Domenico are infamous, they both refer to that deal having been terminated, to the ACT having been chucked out, and all the rest of it. It is simply not true. The Victorian TAB has given notice of that intention. It does not come into effect until some months hence - I believe, not until the end of July. So, again, the Liberals are vastly overstating the case.
I believe that their claim that Mr Berry has misled the Assembly ignores a couple of very important points, and again it is something for which they are becoming notorious. They are points which ought to be taken into consideration in looking at this most serious of charges against a Minister. First of all, Madam Speaker, the answers that the Minister has given must be read in context. Of course, members opposite have not done that now, nor have they ever done it. The questions that the Minister was asked do provide that context, and you have to look at the questions, not just at the answers out of context. Those questions define the matter that he was saying was safe or that he was saying was a good deal. For example, I refer to the Hansard of 1 March this year, Madam Speaker. Mr Humphries asked the Minister about the danger that inducements might be offered to punters by VITAB. In response, the Minister outlined the assurances ACTTAB had received that there would be no inducements, and he said that the deal had been checked by the Treasury and the Law Office. After several interjections he went on to say that the arrangement was safe for the ACT.
Opposition members interjected.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, members opposite were heard in silence. I would appreciate the same courtesy.
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