Page 589 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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I pass now to the third issue - that is, whether ACTTAB was in competition with other TABs for business. Recent press articles - although one is a little different - have cast some doubt on whether ACTTAB was in fact competing against other TABs for the VITAB agreement. As a result there may be some members who think that I may have misled the Assembly on this issue on previous occasions. The press article I refer to was on the front page of the Canberra Times, as I recall it, but a following edition further back in the paper mentioned that there was some competition and that that advice came from Mr Neck's statement and from Mr Hawke's statement. For the Liberals to continue to go down that path just proves that they do not read far back into the Canberra Times. I think that made it fairly clear. If you want to have another look at it, you might refer to the 26 March 1994 edition of the Canberra Times.
I need to make the following points. The chief executive of ACTTAB, Mr Neck, advised me by letter on 27 July 1993:
... there is strong competition for the VITAB contract ...
The Rt Hon. Bob Hawke - - -
Mr De Domenico: No; he is not the Rt Hon. Bob Hawke.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! I remind members once again that Mr De Domenico and Mrs Carnell were heard in total silence. Their discourtesy now is becoming a little tedious. There will be order.
MR BERRY: The Hon. Bob Hawke, on 8 November in his speech at the launch of VITAB, said that "ACTTAB was selected by VITAB above a number of Australian TABs". Nobody would be surprised, then, if I were to say that there was some competition amongst other TABs. A statutory declaration by the chief executive of ACTTAB confirms that Queensland TAB were competitors for the VITAB offshore betting arrangement.
A further statutory declaration from a departmental officer, Mr John Meyer, attending a meeting of racing officials on 6 December 1993, confirms that Mr Dick McIlwain, the then chief executive of the Queensland TAB, said that the Queensland TAB would have been prepared to enter an offshore arrangement subject to the required legislative changes and provided the price was right. So there was competition. You claim that I have misled this chamber by saying that there was competition. There was competition, and I think that proves it. I can table sufficient copies of that statutory declaration so that members can look at it. Madam Speaker, I have already tabled the statutory declaration by the chief executive officer of ACTTAB. Of course, that statutory declaration gives further support to the argument. Based on the above advice and evidence, I think I had a reasonable basis for saying that ACTTAB was in competition for the VITAB agreement. I have not misled this Assembly on this aspect of the matter. It is crazy to say that.
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