Tasmanian election update
With strong rumours of an early election, the media is all over the allegations that the Tasmanian Premier, Paul Lennon, had engaged in potentially corrupt behaviour and misled Parliament about it.
At the heart of the allegations is information that came to light yesterday. The Premier received a free upgrade from a $200 per night room to a six-star, 31st-floor villa suite with free food and drinks worth an estimated $1500 per night when he stayed at the Packer owned Crown Casio for five nights for the 2005 Melbourne Cup.
Furthermore, on the day after checking out of the Crown, the Premier approved a $700 million licence for the Packer-Betfair UK consortium (Betfair Australia) to operate an online betting agency. The licence is awaiting approval from the Tasmanian Gaming Commission, an independent statutory authority.
Previously the Premier had denied receiving freebies from Packer. In Parliament on 8 November 2005, Lennon was asked (in part) whether he had “received any hospitality or services from PBL companies, including the Crown Casino”. His answer: “Did I receive any free hospitality from the Crown Casino? No, I did not”. On 9 November in Parliament, Mr Lennon reiterated,
I have not accepted any free hospitality, as you call it, except for a couple of glasses of wine in the Crown tent with about 300 other people on Melbourne Cup day, including, I might add for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, many other members of parliament from around Australia.
Yesterday, Lennon’s defence was two-fold. First, the upgrade was not asked for, and as Premier it is not unusual for him to receive upgrades. Such an upgrade is not free hospitality. Second, there was no conflict of interest in receiving the upgrade as the Cabinet made the decision to offer Betfair a licence on 24 October 2005, before the Premier’s stay at the Crown.
It has been suggested the second response begged further questions on the accuracy of the Premier’s statements to Parliament. On 25 October 2005, in response to a question about the online betting licence the Premier told the Parliament:
I have also said recently that the State Government is close to making a decision about whether we proceed or not, and as soon as all the issues associated with our considerations are finalised we will make an announcement.
However, the form of words is one of those wonderful politician techniques of (not) answering a question by reference to an earlier statement.
Nonetheless, allegations of corruption have the potential to be extremely damaging to the Labor Government, should the mud stick before the next election. Something Federal Labor MP Harry Quick has noted,
Harry Quick, said Mr Lennon had left himself open to damaging accusations of conflict of interest.
“I can’t believe someone would be so silly and stupid,” Mr Quick said yesterday, referring to Mr Lennon’s visit to Crown during Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival.
“I think majority government has disappeared down the toilet.”
I suspect this turmoil will dent the early election rumours.