Page 1974 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 June 1994
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INQUIRY INTO CONTRACT BETWEEN ACTTAB AND VITAB LTD
Report and Government Response
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.05): Madam Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government's response to the board of inquiry report into a contract entered into between the ACT Totalisator Administration Board and VITAB Ltd, together with the report, and I ask for leave to move a motion authorising the publication of the papers.
Leave granted.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I move:
That the Assembly authorises the publication of the Government's response to the Board of Inquiry Report into a Contract entered into between the ACT Totalisator Agency Board and VITAB Ltd, and the report.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
I wish to advise members that copies of the papers will be circulated at the conclusion of my remarks. Madam Speaker, in responding to Professor Pearce's report, I am aware of a number of ironies. The most obvious irony is the fact that the report clears the former Deputy Chief Minister, Wayne Berry, of all allegations made about his role in the handling of the contract between ACTTAB and VITAB. The report of Professor Pearce's inquiry says:
... I do not regard Mr Berry as having any personal responsibility flowing from any matters relating to the entry by ACTTAB into the [VITAB] contract.
In relation to Mr Berry's position as a Minister, the report says:
... he would have been under no obligation to resign because of the entry of ACTTAB into the VITAB contract.
Madam Speaker, a further irony is that none of the wild allegations by the Liberal Party about the VITAB issue has been proved correct. The whole exercise has been no more than a grubby attempt to score points at the expense of the former Minister. It was so grubby, in fact, that the Liberals produced in this Assembly a doctored version of leaked police criminal records. That so-called evidence, Madam Speaker, was apparently provided to them by the Victorian Liberal Minister for Racing to suggest a connection between Mr Berry and criminal activity. Of course, and this is a further irony, it was the Victorian Liberal Government which was forced to cancel its contract between VicTAB and a Vanuatu company when real criminal involvement became apparent.
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