PETER GUTWEIN, Shadow Treasurer, Tuesday 11 August, 2009
What standards does the Premier expect of his Ministers?
· The Treasurer has failed to answer any of the serious questions about his competence
· Are Ministerial Offices now green lighting Government spending?
· The Premier needs to step in and sort out this mess
Yesterday’s revelation that the Treasurer knew all about the hastily aborted Brand Tasmania TV Series and apparently gave the green light to the project less than two weeks before he scrapped it leads to only one of two possibilities.
Either the Treasurer approved the Brand Tasmania TV show, then denied it in Parliament, or as a result of his own Office green lighting the project his own Department was on the cusp of wasting $500,000 on spin and self-promotion in the midst of a global economic crisis.
It is simply not plausible for a senior member of Michael Aird’s staff to send an e-mail to a senior public servant saying “the Minister has given the OK” for the project, and for Mr Aird to now deny that was in fact approval. He is either trying to deny the facts, or he is totally incompetent. Which is it?
It is now up to the Premier to say whether or not the Treasurer’s performance is acceptable. What standards does the Premier expect of his Ministers when they are spending taxpayers’ money? Surely, Tasmanians deserve better than this, especially from the man that is responsible for managing Tasmania’s economy.
Once again, the Government is in damage control. Once again, the Government is distracted by its own self-inflicted political scandals. Tasmania deserves better than this, but nothing will change unless we change the Government.
