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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4820 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

Bob Hawke and three business associates will open an offshore betting agency in Vila, capital of the Pacific tax haven Vanuatu, later this month.

Does that sound familiar? It goes on:

Their company ... is planning to attract mainly Asian punters to bet on Australia's horse racing fixtures.

Does that sound familiar? I see the nod again. The article continues:

The shareholders are Melbourne businessman Cornelius (Con) McMahon -

a familiar name -

former South Australian bookmaker Michael Dowd, financier Michael Bastian and the former Labor prime minister.

There is a different name to this company, Mrs Carnell. This company is called Asia Pacific Totalisators. The then Minister in Queensland said that the Queensland racing industry would be the big winner. Further on, the article talks about the VITAB situation and it says:

The Pearce Inquiry recorded no evidence of criticism against the directors of APT who were involved in the ACT-TAB arrangement.

Chief Minister, this afternoon I have been in contact with the office of the Queensland Racing Minister, and Mr Cooper's office has confirmed that the company he knows as Asia Pacific Totalisators, which I prefer to call the son of VITAB, has a contract with the Queensland TAB and is currently operating. Mrs Carnell, do you intend to warn Mr Cooper, the Minister in Queensland, of the potential dangers posed by some people in this organisation?

MRS CARNELL: I thank Mr Osborne for this question. I am aware of the article in the Sun-Herald published in February 1996 referring to a new agreement between the Queensland TAB and a company known as APT, son of VITAB. I am also aware that the agreement, according to the article, was brokered between APT and the then Racing Minister, Bob Gibbs, who happened to be a member of a Labor government. It is hard to believe, is it not?

My first reaction upon reading this article again today when my staff brought it to my attention was, "Oh, no! They are at it again". Another Labor government decided to jump into bed with a Vanuatu-based offshore betting agency. Is it not interesting that all the names mentioned in the newspaper article - Con McMahon, Michael Dowd, Michael Bastian and, of course, Bob Hawke - are the same ones who were associated with VITAB? You would have thought that these people would have learnt from their first time around, but it seems that somebody else in the Queensland Labor Party thought that there might be money for jam to be had or that this was going to be a great deal. Mr Osborne is right. This is something that we have heard before.

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