Page 2515 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 1 August 2018
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Auditor-General said that she could not rule out criminality due to a “complete lack of those records”. Minister, have you called in the police to investigate any possible criminality in the Tradies land swap deal?
MR BARR: No, I have not. I also note that the Auditor-General could not rule that in either and that she has made no such findings to that effect.
MR COE: Chief Minister, have you called in any external auditors to investigate potential criminality regarding the Tradies land swap deal or any other matter regarding that deal?
MR BARR: No.
MR WALL: Chief Minister, have you ordered an internal audit into the missing documents or other elements of concern regarding the Dickson land swap?
MR BARR: Yes. There are processes underway in that directorate in an attempt to ascertain the veracity of this claim of missing documents. The auditor has been communicated with by the director-general of the planning directorate seeking to find further information from her as to the nature of the documents that have been alleged to not exist or exist, depending on the circumstances of the inquiry.
The Auditor-General, obviously, is in the best position to advise the director-general, the Assembly and the community as to exactly what is alleged to be missing but until that process is complete it is difficult for me to comment further.
Gaming—poker machines
MS LE COUTEUR: My question is to the Minister for Regulatory Services and relates to poker machines. Minister, last year’s budget papers show that gaming tax revenue is expected to rise every year in the forward estimates from $34.2 million in 2017-18 to $38.8 million in 2021-22. Why is the government predicting a rise in gaming revenue despite the policy of reducing the number of poker machines?
MR RAMSAY: I thank Ms Le Couteur for her question. The predictions come from a range of areas. The key thing that the government is keenly focussed on is ensuring a reduction in the number of gaming machines, along with a range of other harm minimisation measures that we have been putting in place and that we will continue to put in place. The government’s focus is on that at the moment. We will work with the clubs and with the community more generally to ensure that there is good protection and ongoing reduction and diversification in gaming machine venues away from a reliance on gaming machine revenue.
MS LE COUTEUR: Has the government done any modelling work to work out when revenue from gaming machines will actually start to decline and how many machines will have to be removed for this to occur?
MR RAMSAY: Acknowledging that a number of areas of that are actually sitting in the area of the responsibility of the Treasurer rather than the Minister for Regulatory
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