Page 1976 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 June 1994
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Madam Speaker, these conclusions do not surprise me. I had always expected that a dispassionate and apolitical examination of the VITAB issue would find that no fault lay with the Minister.
I turn now to Professor Pearce's conclusions which deal with the role of ACTTAB. There are several of them. He said:
(3) There were deficiencies in the negotiating processes that led to the VITAB contract. The most serious of these were:
. insufficient consideration was given to the likely impact on the return to the Government and the racing industry of entry into a contract with a privately owned TAB;
. inadequate consideration was given to the manner in which a privately owned TAB could be used by its proprietor;
. there was a failure to check the backgrounds of the directors of VITAB;
. the terms of the contract were weighted in VITAB's favour.
(4) The likely impact of entry into the VITAB contract on ACTTAB's relationship with VicTAB was not sufficiently recognised and no written statement of VicTAB's position was obtained.
(5) Primary responsibility for the problems that have flowed from entry into the VITAB contract rests with ACTTAB. It acted in good faith to obtain perceived advantages in financial terms and in development for the future. However, in seeking these advantages, it failed to think through the full ramifications flowing from the contract. It also demonstrated an anxiety to enter into the contract lest it lose out to another TAB without knowing whether there was competition and whether VITAB was an appropriate body with whom it should contract.
Madam Speaker, on receipt of Professor Pearce's report the Government was faced with a decision on the future role of the ACTTAB board and the appropriate measures to be taken to ensure continuing public confidence in ACTTAB. Reviewing Professor Pearce's report in its entirety, the errors and omissions made by ACTTAB in the course of its making a contract with VITAB can be summarised as followed: First, ACTTAB signed a confidentiality agreement in relation to the VITAB contract without informing the Government and without taking any legal advice. In the Government's view, this action was not consistent with a careful approach to protecting the Territory's interest in ACTTAB. This confidentiality agreement also constrained ACTTAB in any checking that needed to be done into the principals of VITAB.
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