Greens, Labor: Rockliff Still Obfuscating on Stadium

Media release – Cassy O’Connor MP, Greens Leader, 5 June 2023

Rockliff’s Continued Obfuscation on Stadium

There was very little but the usual Liberal stadium cheerleading and obfuscation at today’s Estimates hearings.

Premier Rockliff continued his refusal to provide real answers on his fiscally irresponsible blank cheque stadium. This is despite his government being plunged into minority government over the unpopular, unneeded proposal.

When the Greens asked about the impact of the Federal funding for the proposal on Tasmania’s GST receipts, the Premier even compared managing that massive blackhole to managing his farm budget.

This is not the same as building a farm shed. It’s the biggest publicly funded project in the state’s history, a project that will likely cost Tasmania more that a billion dollars.

The Premier answered detailed questions about planning for the project by citing a future precinct plan, and saying it was only just starting. The Rockliff Government have clearly not only signed a blank cheque, but done very little work to determine what the stadium might look like and whether it’ll actually fit in Macquarie Point.

There were no answers on whether agencies had given the Premier advice about the project, following last week’s failure to table Departmental advice in Parliament.

Just saying you’re being transparent, isn’t transparency.

Jeremy Rockliff needs to wake up, and change the way his government does business. In a minority government, that’s lost two votes on the floor of Parliament in the last two weeks, the usual Liberal opacity won’t cut it.

---

Media release – Rebecca White MP, Labor Leader, 5 June 2023

AFL and stadium deal didn’t go through cabinet

Today in Budget Estimates, Premier Jeremy Rockliff repeatedly failed to answer a simple question – were deals about the AFL team and stadium formally considered by cabinet before being signed?

In a separate hearing, Attorney-General Elise Archer also refused to say the deal went to cabinet

The deals clearly didn’t go through cabinet, because if they did, the Premier would have just said yes.

Given this, his ‘cabinet-in-confidence’ excuse for not providing advice from Treasury or other departments to Parliament last week, isn’t fooling anyone.

Either the Premier is trying to hide some really bad advice from Tasmanians, or he didn’t get any advice at all for a billion dollar project – which is arguably even worse.

Premier Rockliff’s trademark evasion and secrecy was on full display today as he demonstrated his willingness to keep Tasmanians in the dark.

If the Premier was as ‘open and transparent’ as he has claimed to be throughout this saga, perhaps two of his party members wouldn’t have quit last month.

Media release – Dean Winter MP, Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Assembly, 5 June 2023

Premier’s pathetic performance gives little hope to Tasmanians

If Tasmanians were seeking reassurance that Jeremy Rockliff was up to the job of Premier, his performance in Budget Estimates definitely wasn’t the right place to look.

The Premier bumbled and stumbled his way through, relying heavily on pieces of paper and sticky notes handed to him over the shoulder from his small army of advisors.

Yet despite such frequent support from his staff, he still couldn’t answer simple questions such as whether or not Treasury provided advice to Cabinet about his Macquarie Point stadium.

There is no explanation about why the New Norfolk Distillery was offered $1.2 million outside of any grant or budget process. It is extraordinary that such an offer could have been made in the wake of the Liberals’ sports-rorts history and reports telling the government to stop behaving like this.

It was clear the Premier didn’t want to be there. He was uncomfortable, and didn’t even look like he himself believed the responses he was providing.

Evasion and secrecy have become defining features of the Liberal Government, and after putting up with it for ten years, Tasmanians deserve far better.

Media release – Janie Finlay MP, Shadow Minister for Small Business, 5 June 2023

Premier again fails to justify public money for Liberal mates

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has again failed to answer questions about the process behind him promising $1.2 million to a business with strong Liberal connections.

It was revealed last month the Premier promised $1.2 million to the New Norfolk Distillery, requiring the business to only contribute $500,000 itself.

The New Norfolk Distillery’s Director Tarrant Derksen’s brother was a Liberal candidate for Lyons at the last state election and is employed in Guy Barnett’s office.

Despite this, when asked about how any conflict of interest was managed in the process behind promising the funds in Budget Estimates today, all the Premier could say was that there was no conflict.

He refused to explain to Tasmanians what process was followed to promise so much money to a business with ties to the Liberal Party.

The Premier did confess that he doesn’t usually write letters offering to give out million-dollar grants, but didn’t say the New Norfolk Distillery letter was the only example of this happening.

This begs the question – how many other similar letters of promise has he made to his Liberal mates?

I have been contacted by another distiller who expressed annoyance that the New Norfolk Distillery has received special treatment. This person also stated that other distillers are not happy with the special treatment given to this operator.

After ten years in office, the Rockliff Liberal Government has become so secretive that two of its members quit last month.

While being thrown into minority because of a lack of transparency should have been a wakeup call for the Premier, it appears that he hasn’t learned a thing.

Labor will put an end to the rorts that have seen tens of millions dished out by Liberal members with clear conflicts of interest.