Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says the gutless Chief Minister has backed away
from his promise to recoup the $12 million he and his cabinet gifted to the Darwin Turf Club
through a rogue and reckless cabinet process.
“Comments from the interim turf club chairman Richard O’Sullivan, following a meeting with
the Chief Minister, that he was confident that ‘funding arrangements could be satisfactorily
resolved’ show Michael Gunner has backflipped on his plan to claw back the money.
“The reality is, the Chief Minister had to front up the morning the ICAC report was released
and say something – and so he resorted to threats that everyone on the turf club board had
to be sacked and that he would recoup the $12 million.
“The Chief Minister knew that he had no power to sack the board or recoup the $12 million
in taxpayer’s money that he gave away – it was all a great big show to distract from the real
issue. Him.
“Michael Gunner has rolled over and made a deal with the interim turf club chairman that if
the new board promises to behave themselves by committing to the ‘highest governance and
transparency’, they can keep the money. The hypocrisy is writ large.
“The circus rolls on with the revelation that one of the Darwin Turf Club board members –
whose resignation was demanded by the Chief Minister – has now been appointed to a
government board. It proves that calling for the board to be sacked is nothing but a shallow
attempt to look tough – his apparent outrage is clearly a farce. Does this mean he will now
present the Darwin Cup on Monday and the Racing Minister will attend the Cup Carnival?
“Of course, this isn’t the first time the Chief Minister’s demands haven’t been adhered to. His
own party ignored his calls for the Member for Blain to be stripped of his Labor membership,
no CEO has ever been reprimanded after tough talk on sacking for budget overruns and now
Darwin Turf Club board members have ignored his demands to resign and many are running
again at the next board election. This is further proof of Michael Gunner’s weak and
ineffective leadership.
“This week the Racing Minister, Natasha Fyles, claimed cabinet had no idea the submission
had been handed to government just hours before the $12 million giveaway was approved.
What utter garbage. This reinforces that this dodgy deal was Michael Gunner’s pet project
and he wanted to get it over the line, no matter how reckless and deceptive the process.
“The 12 page submission – made up of six pages of glossy pictures – provided by the Darwin
Turf Club to cabinet has now been made public. The submission clearly shows the turf club
was only going to make in-kind contributions not upfront cash to support construction, which
blows Minister Fyles’s astonishing claims that cabinet believed this was a market-led proposal
out of the water.
“It’s absolutely impossible that the Chief Minister and his cabinet didn’t realise that the
proposal had not been rigorously tested,” said Mrs Finocchiaro.
ENDS