Page 631 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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said, "Look, I am sorry; I made a mistake about that". This is a matter of being prepared to work with the Assembly and acknowledging the truth. If someone was misled you can say, "Okay, I will re-evaluate that and now I will make another decision.", if that is necessary.
Mr Berry has suggested that the company was a public company. He suggested that it was an Australian based company. That is an important point because it is a Vanuatu based company and it is a private company, not a public company. As was mentioned before, Mr De Domenico could go along to the local securities commission office looking for company records to do with this company and never find them. Another point that was raised was Mr Berry's legal requirement to notify the Assembly within seven days of any directions he had given to the TAB. I am not sure whether the approval was a direction. It was not a direction; it was an approval. Mr Berry's involvement in the entire deal would tend to suggest to me that it was a direction, but I am not sure. It would suggest that because he had taken this deal on and was really going for it. It did not really seem like a direction.
Mr Berry: Say that again.
MR STEVENSON: What I am interested in is the approval idea as against a direction by you to the TAB.
Mr Berry: You have a letter there.
MR STEVENSON: I know that it mentions approval; that is why I am not sure.
Mr Berry: Have a look at the Act. Have you had a look at the Act?
MR STEVENSON: I saw it in the Act as well. What I said was that I am not sure - that is all - although one can be swayed slightly towards the idea that it was a direction because of your involvement in the whole thing.
Mrs Carnell: They could not have done it without it, could they?
Mr De Domenico: They could not have done it without it. That is right.
MR STEVENSON: Yes. The Minister has a responsibility in many matters and in a number of cases he did not present to the Assembly things that he was aware of. He may not have been aware of some things, but there is no question that he misled the Assembly. The question that we have to decide is whether that was deliberate or whether that was inadvertent.
Mr Berry: Run down the issues where I have misled the Assembly again, quickly, so that I can write it down.
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