Page 637 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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MR CORNWELL: Just a moment. Nobody is suggesting that he does not pay his taxes. Nobody is suggesting that he does not pay the milk bill. Nobody is suggesting that he lacks integrity in those areas in which he believes, whatever they may be. But most certainly he has been reckless, as Mr Moore very succinctly pointed out, in relation to his dealings with this Assembly, and certainly in the minds of some people here he has also been deliberately misleading as well as recklessly misleading.
I would like to touch briefly upon two aspects of Mr Berry's statement this afternoon, the reference to inducements and the reference to the involvement of other States - plural - in the competition for VITAB. Ms Szuty, I think it was, suggested that the Minister might have been carried away with enthusiasm in using the plural in relation to the competition of other States with the ACT. I find that a little difficult to believe, Ms Szuty, because on 16 March Mr Berry was quoted as saying:
There were other State TABs -
plural -
interested in the operation, but we were successful and won the deal for the Territory.
On 17 March he is quoted as saying:
... and people have to understand what the Liberals have discovered - they've discovered that the ACT was the successful tenderer, if you like, for a deal with VITAB ...
Again, there is the suggestion that there was strong competition and the ACT was the successful tenderer. Finally, on 19 March, when he was interviewed on a radio program, he said:
Well that's right. I mean, we were competitors in a race to get this contract because there are significant benefits in it for the winner ... and we won, and as a result, other States -
plural -
missed out. Now ... I think there was a bit of anxiety around the country over that but it was a plus for the Territory.
The fact is that there was not any competition at all. As Mr Moore quite rightly points out, the involvement of even the Queensland TAB was very minor. They were approached, we understand, by VITAB. However, they knocked it back on the basis that they could not legally involve themselves in such a thing. So where is the competition, Mr Berry?
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