Few without fault in Darwin Turf Club grandstand scandal

While the NT government wants to make out the grandstand scandal is one that belongs solely to the Darwin Turf Club, the biggest stench surrounds the decision to hand over the $12m, not what happened with that money afterwards, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM.

The controversial $12m grandstand at the Darwin Turf Club. Picture: Che Chorley

While the NT government wants to make out the grandstand scandal is one that belongs solely to the Darwin Turf Club, the biggest stench surrounds the decision to hand over the $12m, not what happened with that money afterwards, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM.

THE pressure is mounting on Michael Gunner over the Darwin Turf Club grandstand debacle. And, while the Chief Minister is running out of buses to throw people under, some of his cabinet colleagues seem determined not to be run over.

(If you need a refresher on the background to this issue, you’ll find it in columns published here on September 19, 2019, and February 1, 2020).

Eva Lawler and Natasha Fyles have now both confirmed it was Mr Gunner who took the last-minute, under-the-arm submission for the $12m DTC grandstand grant into cabinet.

The argument the Chief Minister had already admitted this doesn’t hold water.

He said something distinctly different when interviewed by Katie Woolf on Mix FM last week.

Let’s go to the transcript:

Katie Woolf: “Who took that proposal to cabinet?”

Michael Gunner: “I’m the Chief Minister, I’m the chair of cabinet, I’m responsible for everything in cabinet.”

Katie Woolf: “So you took it in?”

Michael Gunner: “I’m responsible for everything in cabinet.”

Politicians spin to avoid having to lie, which is why Mr Gunner avoided answering this question directly.

But in doing so he left open the possibility it was someone other than him who – literally – had their fingerprints all over this deal.

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Ms Fyles and Ms Lawler were clearly not willing to allow this mud to stick so readily to them.

That’s not to say they deserve to be absolved of any responsibility when it comes to the decision.

Every person who was in that cabinet room shares blame for the fact that $12m in taxpayers’ money was given to the club after companies co-owned by its chairman donated $100,000 to the Labor Party ahead of the 2016 election.

Any one of those ministers could have stood up and objected to this questionable deal.

Former attorney-general Peter Toyne once stormed out of the cabinet room in protest over an under-the-arm submission presented when Clare Martin was chief minister.

And Dave Tollner had an infamous dust-up with Terry Mills that saw papers thrown across the room not long before Mills was rolled as chief minister.

But there’s little evidence to suggest anyone in Mr Gunner’s cabinet lodged a similar objection over the grandstand grant, even at a time of budget crisis when our hospital system had been pushed to breaking point.

A report in Friday’s NT News outlined in detail the usual process that is followed when a submission is taken to cabinet.

That process was avoided by the fact the grandstand proposal was an “under-the-arm” submission.

But even under-the-arm submissions are accompanied by what’s known in the business as a “yellow” – frank and fearless advice from Treasury about the merits of the proposal at hand.

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What was this advice and was it ignored?

Did the ministers just nod and agree because they knew a party donor needed to be looked after?

Or was it because they’d effectively ceded control to Mr Gunner and his all-powerful chief-of-staff, Alf Leonardi?

While the government wants to make out the grandstand scandal is one that belongs solely to the Turf Club, the biggest stench surrounds the decision to hand over the $12m, not what happened with that money afterwards.

The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption could not properly investigate this part of the deal, as the decisions made in the cabinet room are protected by cabinet-in-confidence.

No one is buying the government’s feigned disgust at the Turf Club and its chairman, Brett Dixon, who at this point is resisting calls to stand down.

We now have the farcical situation where the Chief Minister has refused to attend the Chief Minister’s Cup.

Perhaps even worse, Ms Fyles, the Racing Minister and Tourism Minister, is refusing to go to the races.

There were calls for former tourism minister Lauren Moss to be sacked after she attended a friend’s interstate wedding instead of the Brolga Awards in 2018.

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What then can be said about the Racing Minister – who’s also the Tourism Minister – refusing to attend the biggest event on the racing calendar that is also one of the dry season’s biggest tourism drawcards?

The only member of the 2019 cabinet to emerge unscathed from this scandal is the Deputy Chief Minister, Nicole Manison.

As the NT News revealed on September 17, 2019, Ms Manison, as then treasurer, was opposed to the deal, but sat out the cabinet deliberations because her brother-in-law was on the Turf Club board.

Twelve months ago some of Ms Manison’s colleagues had formed the view she would not contest the next election.

Now she appears to have a new-found spring in her step.

The leadership speculation brewing from the Turf Club scandal is probably overblown (although if the infighting continues it won’t stay that way).

But if and when Mr Gunner decides to leave office, a suddenly refreshed and untarnished Ms Manison appears his most likely replacement.