Chief’s advisor raised concerns about turf club grandstand video
An advisor to Chief Minister Michael Gunner raised concerns about a Darwin Turf Club video that referred to a new grandstand several months before the project received a controversial $12 million grant from the NT Government.
Northern Territory
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An advisor to Chief Minister Michael Gunner raised concerns about a Darwin Turf Club video that referred to a new grandstand several months before the project received a controversial $12 million grant from the NT Government, it has been reported
ABC Darwin’s Jano Gibson reported emails obtained through Freedom of Information show the turf club created a video updating members of its future plans in December 2018 – six months before the grant was announced – and sent that to the Chief Minister’s office for approval.
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Those emails also show the video prompted concerns from Mr Gunner’s policy adviser Chris Langworthy, who ordered the reference to the grandstand be reworded or removed because the funding proposal had not yet been formally presented to the government.
The Darwin Turf Club told the ABC it had not implied the grandstand had already received government funding, but had amended the video as directed.
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The announcement of the funding was controversial with some questioning why the heavily in debt government was spending money that was not in the Budget.
How it became more controversial last week when the ABC reported and FOI showed the Chief Minister’s then chief of staff Alf Leonardi drafted a letter for Turf Club chairman Brett Dixon which was then added to and used to lobby ministers for a new grandstand, which was later approved.
After the involved of Mr Leonardi was revealed, Mr Gunner said he handed over the documents to the NT Independent Commission Against Corruption.
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