Will Hodgman, Press Release
It has been revealed in State Parliament a reason the Lennon Government denied a second player entry to the building accreditation industry was to protect the Tasmanian Compliance Corporation, run by two former Labor Ministers.
Media Release
Tasmanian Liberal Leader
WILL HODGMAN, MHA
Thursday June 15, 2006
Labor cronyism revealed
It has been revealed in State Parliament a reason the Lennon Government denied a second player entry to the building accreditation industry was to protect the Tasmanian Compliance Corporation, run by two former Labor Ministers.
Documents obtained by the Tasmanian Liberals detail the Deputy Premier Bryan Green’s reasons for refusing accreditation to Building Professions Accreditation Corporation in 2004.
Mr Green cited “viability of two authorised bodies competing for accreditation clients.”
But BPACT is a not-for-profit company.
And it was proposing to register architects, engineers and building surveyors, not builders.
Liberal Leader Will Hodgman also revealed that after the government knocked BPACT back for authorisation, it then moved an amendment to the Building Act to include architects, engineers and building surveyors in the definition of a building practitioner.
At the time Bryan Green said it was to correct a “drafting error” that may have led to the impression that architects, engineers and building surveyors did not need accreditation.
So the law was changed to hand TCC the market that BPACT had applied to service.
These revelations place the State Government under even greater pressure to explain its secret deal struck with TCC on the eve of the election that would appear to enshrine TCC’s monopoly status – despite the fact that the Building Act clearly provides for more than one player.
The government was in total disarray in Question Time this morning.
In other developments:
· the Attorney General, Steve Kons, has changed his story from Tuesday, when he said “an irrevocable funding arrangement has been established and is payable to the government should TCC default on its charter.” He’s now backing the Premier’s claim the document is nothing more than a Memorandum of Understanding that requires Cabinet approval. This means he either misled Tasmanians on Tuesday or misled them in Parliament today;
· Paul Lennon refused to explain the staggering contradictions between what he and his Ministers have been saying;
· Bryan Green refused to confirm that protecting the viability of TCC was one of the reasons for knocking BPACT back despite a letter signed by him confirming that; and
· the government refused to table the MoU so taxpayers can understand what it says and what liabilities they may incur.
Mr Hodgman said this scandal was getting smellier by the day.
“The government is not going to make this go away by refusing to answer questions,” Mr Hodgman said.
“This would appear to be a scandalous case of cronyism and anti-competitive behaviour by the government, made worse by the fact that it now appears taxpayers will have to pay compensation if any other company is licensed to accredit building practitioners.
“The government, and Bryan Green, have a huge case to answer here.
“Some of the questions could be answered if the government tables the MoU for all to see, especially as it is apparently just a set of guiding principles.”
