Lawyer for Brett Dixon has claimed in a letter to Michael Gunner that his former chief-of-staff encouraged the application

A lawyer for Darwin Turf Club chairman Brett Dixon has claimed in a letter to Michael Gunner that his former chief-of-staff actively encouraged the application for a $12m NT government grant for the construction of a grandstand because it was supported personally by the Chief.

The Darwin Turf Club grandstand. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

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A LAWYER for Darwin Turf Club chairman Brett Dixon, who has taken a leave of absence, has claimed in a letter to Chief Minister Michael Gunner that his former chief-of-staff actively encouraged the application for a $12m NT government grant for the construction of a grandstand because it was enthusiastically supported by Mr Gunner personally.

The letter also alleges one of the reasons why the grandstand was championed by

former chief-of-staff Alf Leonardi was because it needed to be completed before the 2020 Darwin Cup Carnival to ensure the Gunner government received kudos for the project in the lead up to the 2020 Northern Territory election.

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The allegations are in a letter to the Chief Minister from Mr Dixon’s lawyer in reply to the Chief Minister’s letter to Mr Dixon demanding he resign. Mr Dixon’s lawyer details eight points he says Mr Gunner’s correspondence and public statements on June 25 ignore. “Your chief-of-staff at the time actively encouraged Mr Dixon and DTCI to apply for a grant from the government for the construction of a grandstand,” the letter to Mr Gunner says. “Your chief-of-staff repeatedly told Mr Dixon that the construction of a grandstand funded by your government was enthusiastically supported by you personally.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner. Picture: Che Chorley

Alf Leonardi. Picture: Justin Kennedy

“One reason for the project having been championed by your chief-of-staff was to ensure that your government received the kudos for the project in the lead up to the 2020 Northern Territory election. “The ICAC’s claim that there is no evidence of this having been your government’s objective is demonstrably wrong because the infamous ‘This is the letter you need to write to us’ letter penned by your Chief of Staff in January 2019, not one word of which was authored by our client, included a paragraph ‘Our costings show we will need approximately $12m for these improvements. If this was to be provided this could be underway as soon as this year’s carnival is complete and in time for 2020s carnival’.”

The letter to Mr Gunner also points out Mr Dixon’s company Jaytex built the grandstand at a loss.

The legal letter also raises a complaint that Mr Dixon lodged about the ICAC investigation to the Inspector.

The legal letter says the ICAC findings of misconduct and improper conduct as defined in the ICAC Act are flawed in law. “They are flawed in fact because nothing that Mr Dixon did was improper, let alone unlawful,” the letter says. “You participated in the decision of your cabinet to approve the grant to DTCI for the grandstand notwithstanding that (according to the ICAC) the application and supporting information provided by DTCI was devoid of merit.” A spokesman for the Chief Minister said despite the letter, Mr Gunner’s call for Mr Dixon and the DTCI board to resign, was unchanged.