The Mercury: Bacon ready to face lie detector

In Their Own Words:

Peg Putt MHA
GREENS OPPOSITION LEADER

Thursday, 9 JUNE 2005
LENNON SHOWS THE STRAIN OVER
KEN BACON ISSUE
Was the Former Minister Told ‘not to go near the numbers’?

The Tasmanian Greens today say that the Premier’s decision to bluster and stonewall questions over the Ken Bacon affair is prolonging resolution of the issue, as Mr Lennon failed to answer whether the former Tourism Minister had in fact been instructed ‘not to go near the numbers’ in the TT Line Estimates hearing at the centre of the controversy.
Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MHA demanded to know why, if the Premier is concerned about the actions of his Chief of Staff being discussed under Parliamentary privilege, he refused to allow his staffer to put his side of the story when he could have done so under Parliamentary privilege at Budget Estimates hearings last week.
“Paul Lennon is showing the strain of the Ken Bacon affair, but it won’t go away while he refuses to clear up the discrepancies which go to the heart of the accountability of his government, and a thuggish management style,” Ms Putt said.
“We have it on the authority of a good source that Ken Bacon was instructed ‘not to go near the numbers’, fairly extraordinary in the circumstances of an Estimates hearing, yet Paul Lennon gave only a blustering evasion of the question.”
“The words, ‘not to go near the numbers’ sounds like a directive rather than mere ‘advice’ as the Premier would have us belief was the only thing on offer, which has serious implications in context of concerns of potential witness tampering.”
“If he is so concerned by the use of Parliamentary privilege, why did the Premier refuse to allow his Chief of Staff to put his side of the story under Parliamentary privilege when he had the opportunity to do so last week in Budget Estimates hearings where these matters were being discussed?” Ms Putt said.
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HON MICHAEL HODGMAN, QC MHA
Her Majesty’s Shadow Attorney General
Thursday June 9, 2005

Premier’s weak excuses for avoiding answering questions on the Ken Bacon affair backfire as they show the Premier to be a complete hypocrite

Shadow Attorney General Michael Hodgman QC today accused the Premier of being a complete hypocrite in his desperate attempt to continue avoiding answering the fundamental questions at the heart of the Ken Bacon witness tampering affair.

Paul Lennon has every day come up with new, weak and fanciful reasons to avoid answering simple, basic questions of fact relating to whether Ken Bacon was instructed to deliberately obstruct a Parliamentary Committee hearing.

Yesterday, that reason was that members were apparently using Parliamentary privilege “to denigrate people who had no access to privilege.”

Mr Hodgman said this was a blatant untruth. The only person who has denied privilege to the key player in this affair, Rod Scott, has been the Premier himself.

“Last week, we asked the Premier to allow his chief of staff to be questioned during the Budget Estimates process at committees where Ministers basically rely on their advisers to answer the questions we put anyway.

“But while it was good enough for Jim Cox’s adviser to point to a script that the Minister should stick to, while it was good enough for every other Minister, including Paul Lennon, to fob tricky questions off to advisers, in this case, the Premier refused point blank to allow Rod Scott to be one of them.

“That Mr Lennon could accuse MHAs of using parliamentary privilege to denigrate those with no access to privilege is a most breathtaking case of hypocrisy and rewriting of history.

“It was Mr Lennon who deliberately denied Mr Scott the opportunity to explain himself under Parliamentary privilege and clear his name if he could; and clear this sorry saga up once and for all.”

Mr Hodgman said Mr Lennon’s failure to ensure that the scope of the investigation conducted by the Solicitor General was widened to include information from Mr Bacon, and his adviser Michael Roberts, was also damning, given that Mr Scott was in a position to know about the investigation, and rang the Solicitor General to offer his “assistance”.

“As such, the perception is that the investigation was clearly one-sided. It is unbelievable that Premier Lennon did not see fit to ensure all parties were involved in the investigation, to at the very least give the impression that its scope, as set by the State Government, was balanced and fair.”

Mr Hodgman said the whole affair smelled rancid and this was obviously why the Premier was inventing every excuse under the sun to avoid answering the fundamental questions that would reveal whether witness-tampering occurred in relation to the Ken Bacon affair, and whether the criminal code has been breached.

“That the Premier is refusing to answer these questions is damning in itself.

“But in creating his weak and pathetic excuses the Premier makes himself a laughing stock. He was the one who denied his chief of staff the opportunity to clear his name under Parliamentary Privilege.

“It is a joke for this arrogant Premier to now try to avoid answering questions by claiming those asking them are attempting to denigrate his chief of staff. We want nothing more than for the Premier and Mr Scott to clear these matters up so that this scandal can be put to rest.

“But until that happens, it cannot be put to rest, because the allegations here are so grave, so serious, they could force the resignation of the Premier.”

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MICHAEL HODGMAN, QC MHA
Her Majesty’s Shadow Attorney General
Wednesday June 8, 2005

Lennon’s reaction to lie detector revelations says it all

Shadow Attorney General Michael Hodgman QC today revealed that Ken Bacon is willing to take a lie detector test on the truth of everything he has alleged in relation to the witness-tampering scandal.

Paul Lennon isn’t. And his reaction to this revelation said it all as the Premier launched into a tirade of personal abuse rather than dealing with the matters at hand.

Mr Hodgman said the body language of State Government members in Question Time this morning when the Premier tried to filibuster his way around this revelation, said more than anything the Premier has to date.

“At least two Labor MHAs sat there with their hands over their mouths. Most went silent and several sank back into their seats.

“They know what the Premier still does not seem to have understood this scandal could force the Premier’s resignation and it will not, and cannot, go away until the Premier provides some direct answers to very simple questions that go to the heart of this fiasco.

“The fact that Premier had nothing to say on the revelation that Ken Bacon is prepared to take a lie detector test to prove his allegations that he was instructed to avoid answering questions at a Parliamentary committee hearing, and told that as a Minister he was not entitled to an opinion — except for personal abuse about me is disgraceful.

“Paul Lennon indicated that he would not take a lie detector test. This in itself provides a rather telling insight into who is telling the truth in relation to this matter.”

Mr Hodgman said further proof of this was the fact that the Premier had not asked Ken Bacon to retract his allegations, even though he must surely be aware how serious they are given that they have dominated the last three weeks of Parliament, and completely overshadowed his Budget.

“The Premier has arrogantly and secretively refused to answer the questions we have put to him which could have put an end to this affair.

“He has refused to clear this up.

“And he seems to think that by just attacking us, and filibustering, and producing advice that was clearly one-sided, this matter will go away.

“This is another example of the Premier treating the people of Tasmania with disgraceful contempt and being outrageously loose with the truth.

“The Premier needs to wake up to the fact that the people of Tasmania will not tolerate his lack of truthfulness and shameful arrogance.”

Earlier: Mr Lennon, Mr Scott and the Public Sphere