Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Gerard Maley, says the emergence of a clear timeline which points
to panic from the Gunner Government as soon as it was alerted to the damning ICAC report linking
the Chief Minister and Cabinet with the corrupt Darwin Turf Club grandstand deal demonstrates Labor
was always poised for bad news.
“The Chief Minister says he was handed the ICAC report at 5.00pm on Thursday 24th June, but didn’t
allow it to be publicly released until the next morning. That’s because he needed time to fire up Labor’s
spin machine,” Mr Maley said.
“During Budget sittings that day the Racing Minister, Natasha Fyles, worked furiously to immediately
shut down debate on two key motions put forward by the Opposition – including a full parliamentary
review into the ICAC Act.
“Minister Fyles and the Chief Minister then left the chamber less than 15 minutes into the session and
never returned.
“The Chief Minister, who is also the Treasurer, didn’t bother to speak during the short time he was
present for debate to pass the budget. In fact, not a single Labor member spoke.
“Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak has shifted the spotlight away from the Chief Minister’s
involvement in the dodgy grandstand deal however, now that COVID restrictions are lifted, it is time
for Gunner to come clean with Territorians.
“When questions turned to the Turf Club, ICAC and him at the Chief Minister’s COVID press conference
this morning, he provided a couple of cursory answers before beating a hasty retreat.”
“Equally troubling was his decision to cancel a meeting with new Northern Australia Minister David
Littleproud to discuss federal funding initiatives for the Territory.
“Searching for strategies to cover his own backside is now a higher priority for the Chief Minister than
strategies to grow the Territory economy,” Mr Maley said.
“He has told us ‘I’m the Chief Minister, I’m the Chair of the Cabinet, I’m responsible for everything in
the Cabinet’ so now he needs to explain how many other significant projects worth millions of taxpayer
dollars are being approved by his Cabinet with less than 24 hours to scrutinise complex business plans
– like the $12 million Turf Club grandstand.
“He should also detail the role the $100,000 political donation to Labor played in this process.
“This all smacks of a government that is more concerned with minimising the fallout from a corruption
probe linked to the Chief Minister and Cabinet ministers, than addressing the economic crisis Labor
has plunged the Territory into,” said Mr Maley.
ENDS