Page 593 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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a letter to Mr Reynolds dated 10 March 1994. In that letter I sought the Minister's intervention in the matter. I specifically sought from him a statement of the reasons for the issue of notice and indicated our preparedness to "negotiate specific areas of concern". That is a responsible action. That was on 10 March 1994.
Mr De Domenico: Too late; he had already made up his mind.
MR BERRY: Mr De Domenico interjects, "Too late; he had already made his mind up".
Mr De Domenico: He said so to the Canberra Times, and to us in writing.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! You will have an opportunity to speak again.
MR BERRY: The letter goes on to outline our concerns that VicTAB had not specified conditions under which ACTTAB could retain its pooling arrangements and concludes by my asking the Victorian Minister to "urge your TAB to commence immediate negotiations with ACTTAB". There could be no clearer evidence that on 10 March, when I signed that letter, I believed that there was still a very real prospect that the situation with VicTAB was recoverable. I am still waiting for a response from the Minister in relation to this matter, but I will table a copy of the letter to the Minister. There should be enough copies to go around.
During this period, ACTTAB's legal position in relation to Victoria's decision to terminate the agreement required careful consideration by ACTTAB's solicitors, Macphillamy Cummins and Gibson, and the Government Solicitor's Office. Members will appreciate that this is still a sensitive and complex legal issue, as I mentioned a little while ago, which requires further careful consideration by all of the parties. Given at that time VicTAB's continued refusal to negotiate conditions under which the link with ACTTAB might be maintained, I thought it was necessary to protect the interests of the Territory and requested ACTTAB to commence discussions with other state TABs. That was mentioned earlier, in the Liberals' speeches, I recall. As a precautionary measure we had to do something, and those discussions were commenced with a view to securing an alternative pooling arrangement.
During February and March, ACTTAB held a number of discussions with the South Australian, Queensland and New South Wales TABs. In the end result, New South Wales has expressed an interest in establishing a link with ACTTAB.
Mr Humphries: But not with VITAB.
Mr Moore: Is that with or without VITAB?
MR BERRY: I understand that that is with the New South Wales Minister at this point; we have not received his position in relation to the matter. That matter is not finalised as yet, so far as the Government is aware. The key objective in all of this was to explore our options as fully as possible without creating speculation which would undermine our efforts.
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