Ministers who don’t accept hospitality could be accused of being ‘out of touch’: McGowan

WA Premier Mark McGowan sees no issue with government ministers and MPs accepting hospitality from betting giant Tabcorp weeks before the government restarted the sale process to sell its own betting agency TAB.

He suggested that if MPS did not accept tickets to hospitality and sporting events they could be accused of being “out of touch”.

WA’s Premier Mark McGowan says MPs who don’t accept gifts can be accused of being ‘out of touch’. Credit: James Brickwood

Two Labor ministers and three MPs attended the Perth AFL grand final on betting giant Tabcorp’s dime.

The gifted tickets were declared by the MPs in their 2021-22 annual returns tabled in parliament last week.

McGowan said he saw no issue with his MPs accepting any form of hospitality from businesses.

When pressed on the potential for conflicts of interest in the TAB sale he said most businesses had dealings with the government.

“Look, every business is in some way related to government, there’s always approvals, there are different things, there’s taxes, everything,” he said.

Much of the McGowan government cabinet were gifted tickets to the grand final.Credit: Getty

“If members of parliament don’t go to these things, you’re accused of not being in touch, if you do go, then you’re attacked.”

The gift register also revealed Regional Development and Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan accepted $10,000 worth of AFL tickets over the course of the year from developer Nigel Satterley’s company, but Satterley said she was invited as “a friend.”

Amber-Jade Sanderson, who was Environment, Climate Action and Commerce minister at the time accepted two corporate tickets from Tabcorp to the historic final at Optus Stadium on September 25 last year. Housing and Local Government Minister John Carey also accepted two corporate tickets each from Tabcorp but said he did not attend and instead gifted them on to his “Scottish pensioner dog walker”.

The tickets, worth about $5000 each, were offered to the ministers by Tabcorp’s government relations manager Tom Callachor and lobbying firm Newgate Communications’ partner Lenda Oshalem, who is the wife of WA Premier Mark McGowan’s parliamentary secretary David Michael.

Michael also accepted a ticket along with the premier’s other parliamentary secretary Sabine Winton and Albany MP Rebecca Stephens.

The TAB sale formally began in September 2019 but was paused in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic – Tabcorp was considered a frontrunner in the sale.

The process restarted on October 12, 2021, 17 days after the grand final. Tabcorp was again shortlisted as a contender.

The sale is expected to net the government about $1 billion and Tabcorp remain in the race after frontrunner Betr withdrew its bid at the 11th hour earlier this week.

Under the WA ministerial code of conduct, ministers can only accept a gift worth more than $300 if they pay the difference to the Department of Premier and Cabinet but this does not apply to hospitality events or sporting tickets.

A Tabcorp spokesman said the company always complied with strict probity rules when it came to inviting MPs to events.

“Tabcorp is very transparent about hosting key stakeholders, including members of parliament, at major sport and racing events in every city,” he said.

MacTiernan accepted 11 tickets from the Satterley Property Group for four games over the course of the 2021-22 financial year.

She was the only minister to attempt accurately estimate the value of the tickets, which totalled $10,000 for the year and included two 2021 grand final tickets to the Satterley corporate box worth $5000.

She accepted corporate box tickets to this year’s round 20 match at Optus Stadium between Fremantle and Melbourne but did not attend, instead she gifted them to family members.

Satterley recently survived an attempt to oust him from the Liberal party for openly criticising powerbrokers Peter Collier and Nick Goiran, but he has provided fervent public support for the McGowan government.

A spokeswoman for Satterley said no lobbying occurred at the matches and MacTiernan was invited as a friend.

“Quite simply, Nigel has a box at the football and invites people in his social circle to attend,” she said.

“These events are purely social occasions. Alannah is a long-term friend of Nigel and I believe he gave her some additional tickets to some Melbourne games as she’s a Melbourne supporter.”

A government spokesman said gifts to ministers were common across successive governments and said this government was committed to transparency.

“The McGowan government is committed to transparency, highlighted by a history of tabling gift registers in parliament and releasing registers when requested, unlike the previous Liberal National Government which did not once table a compliant gift register in their more than eight years in government,” he said.

McGowan was a guest at the grand final of AFL chairman Richard Goyder and was also gifted a match day ball a few weeks later that is on display in his office.

Most of the McGowan cabinet as well as opposition leader Mia Davies were gifted tickets to the 2021 grand final worth thousands of dollars each.

Davies; Nationals MP Peter Rundle; Police Minister Paul Papalia; Transport Minister Rita Saffioti; and Arts and former Tourism Minister David Templeman were gifted tickets to the final from the AFL while Energy Minister Bill Johnston received tickets from Telstra.

Environment Minister, then Emergency Services Minister, Reece Whitby was gifted a ticket to the final by stadium operator VenuesLive while Attorney General John Quigley scored an invitation from stadium chief executive Mike McKenna.