Chief Minister Michael Gunner mum on whether Treasury approved of grandstand grant
The Chief Minister has revealed he did take Treasury advice on the $12m Darwin Turf Club grandstand into cabinet, but has refused to say what it recommended.
Northern Territory
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- Gunner refuses to say whether Treasury advice was given in Turf Club saga
- Gunner brought Turf Club documents into cabinet: Minister
CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has revealed he did include Treasury analysis of the Darwin Turf Club grandstand submission when he presented it to cabinet in 2019, but refused to say whether or not it recommended granting $12m to the club.
Mr Gunner also revealed Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade chief executive Shaun Drabsch has been given a formal warning over his “unsatisfactory conduct” in the Darwin Turf Club scandal.
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But the Chief Minister has defended allowing Mr Drabsch to implement recommendations from the ICAC investigation, saying he was new to the role when the grandstand tender process was being conducted, and his conduct since had been “exemplary”.
“Let’s also be clear about how government works – there’s a whole government department doing this work,” Mr Gunner said.
“The advice will come up from the department through the CEO, into cabinet for a decision – I think that’s all very reasonable.”
Mr Gunner revealed Mr Drabsch would be responsible for providing advice to the government about how it will reclaim the $12m it invested into the grandstand.
“He was given a formal warning.”
“(The grandstand) was something that happened two years ago when he first took up the role.”
Mr Gunner also confirmed cabinet received Treasury advice on the grandstand tender process, after his office on Friday repeatedly refused to say whether such documents existed.
He however refused to provide specifics on what Treasury recommended.
“I obviously don’t comment on what final cabinet papers were, but you can see what the decision was, and you see what happened as a consequence of that decision.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro called for more transparency from Mr Gunner over the grandstand deal.
“The chief minister is up to his eyeballs in this, he needs to start to come clean and explain to Territorians exactly what went on with that deal, because at the end of the day when you all boil it down, it was him who took that cabinet submission into cabinet,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“He’s thrown everyone under the bus he possibly could.”
Ms Finocchiaro said “there was no way on this earth” that Treasury recommended cabinet go ahead on the grandstand tender.
“It’s just not possible, and if it is possible, then the Chief Minister should release that information,” she said.
Ms Finocchiaro also questioned whether Mr Drabsch was the best person to implement recommendations from the ICAC from the NT public service.
Originally published as Chief Minister Michael Gunner mum on whether Treasury approved of grandstand grant
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