Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says the Chief Minister and his cowardly Labor
Ministers must waive cabinet confidentiality and publicly release the document relied on by
cabinet to approve the $12 million dodgy grandstand deal.
“Brett Dixon’s lengthy tell-all backs up what Territorians and the Opposition have been saying
since the release of the damning ICAC report; the Chief Minister orchestrated and is
responsible for this deal.
“It was Michael Gunner who was desperate to have a pet project completed in time for the
2020 NT election. It was Michael Gunner who had his Chief of Staff work with the Darwin Turf
Club, and departments, to develop the proposal. He needed the Darwin Turf Club to provide
him with something, anything, to take to cabinet.
“It was Michael Gunner who waived proper process and scrutiny of the submission by bringing
it ‘under the arm’ to cabinet. It was Michael Gunner who forced his Labor colleagues to
approve the dodgy deal, and it was Michael Gunner and his cabinet that decided $12 million
would be given away as a lump sum and not proceed as a market-led proposal.
“As outlined by Mr Dixon, it is Michael Gunner and his ministers who have thrown everyone
under the bus and ‘sat back and watched others, including its own employees who were just
doing what was expected of them, be publicly humiliated and it has then exploited a process
it was immune from to demand the resignations of hard-working volunteers’.
“Everything contained in the document taken to cabinet is in the public interest and far
outweighs any claim of confidentially by the deceitful Gunner Government. If Labor don’t
address this head on, it casts a permanent shadow over every grant approved by cabinet.
“Michael Gunner, Nicole Manison, and Natasha Fyles, have consistently lied to Territorians
that ‘normal cabinet’ processes were followed. Mr Dixon’s recount of events supports what
the ICAC found – which was that the Gunner Government didn’t have anything from the
Darwin Turf Club until 13 June 2019, the day before cabinet approved the grant.
“The urgency to sign off on this dodgy decision is obvious: it was just twelve months out from
an election, the pet project was smack bang in the middle of the Chief Minister’s electorate,
the Territory was in the depths of an escalating economic crisis, and Labor was affected by
political donations.
“Michael Gunner has lost the trust of the people he was elected to represent. No one believes
him, or his version of events. The Chief Minister’s position is untenable, so is that of cabinet
members who approved the deal and they must all resign to restore integrity in government,”
said Mrs Finocchiaro.
ENDS