Page 1981 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 June 1994
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To conclude, Madam Speaker, I would like to place on record the Government's gratitude to Professor Pearce for the way he conducted this inquiry and the timeliness of his report. I consider that he has been fair to all parties in the VITAB issue, and has provided us with a set of conclusions which form the basis for much improved management of ACTTAB in the future. I would like also to thank Mrs Carnell, Mr Moore and Ms Szuty for respecting the confidentiality of this report during the period they have had advance copies. I advise the Assembly that the Government will be moving to amend the Inquiries Act to put beyond doubt the privileged status of reports under the Act.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (3.29): Madam Speaker, I think it is appropriate to begin my remarks by quoting Mr Berry during one of his more memorable interviews on ABC radio on 17 March this year. He said then:
The Liberals have done all they can to bring this undone and I hope they take some of the credit for it.
Madam Speaker, this report contains little in the way of credit, particularly for Mr Berry or the Government. The Opposition will, though, take whatever little credit there is, for one simple reason, and that is that we did our job. Mr Berry, Ms Follett's Government, his department, his advisers and his TAB did not do their jobs, as the report shows.
Today marks the culmination of a difficult decision that I took, as Opposition Leader, some eight months ago. Last November I decided to believe a small group of Canberrans who came to see me with their concerns about the VITAB contract. The same group, by the way, had been to see the Government and had warned it about the consequences of the deal. Unfortunately, they were ignored. The Liberal Party did what the Government did not do. We listened; we questioned the Minister; in fact, we questioned him again and again. We investigated his answers and spent thousands of hours researching, looking for information that the Government refused to disclose. We helped lift the lid on a deal that was not good for the Territory, was not safe, and would never have happened, as I think the Chief Minister has indicated today, had this Government not decorporatised the TAB. The deal was not good and it certainly was not safe.
Contrast that with Mr Berry's comments on radio on 16 March when he said:
You have to make sure that these things are safe.
Contrast that with Ms Follett's comments on radio on 18 March when she described the contract as "unquestionably a good deal". You were a bit wrong, Ms Follett. I wonder whether the Chief Minister, who said back in March that she did not believe that an inquiry was warranted, still holds that view today.
Madam Speaker, the Opposition accepts the majority of the findings of Professor Pearce in this report under the Inquiries Act, but with some reservations in some areas. The report is an indictment of administrative policy under the Follett Government. It shows what can happen when a government puts ideology and a quick buck ahead of professional management. It is the worst report card that any Chief Minister has had
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