The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has commented on Clubs NSW dropping its court action against the ABC.
Clubs NSW has ceased its legal action against the ABC for airing explosive allegations by former Labor Minister Peter Garrett, subsequently withdrawn, implying that someone in the poker machine industry tried to bribe him. In a stunning retreat, Clubs NSW has agreed to pay the ABC’s legal fees.
Mr Wilkie, who Clubs NSW also tried to sue for commenting on the Garrett allegations, said that in his opinion the Association had shown itself to not only be a bully, but also to have things to hide.
“A court case was always going to involve a robust scrutiny of Clubs NSW’s financial affairs,” Mr Wilkie said. “Just what is it Clubs NSW is so desperate to hide? Why is Clubs NSW too scared to open its books? Is it how much money the clubs fleece from poker machine players and how little of it is returned to the community? No doubt one of the things Clubs NSW wouldn’t want to publicise is exactly how much money it donates to politicians and political parties.
“The bottom line remains that Peter Garrett claimed repeatedly, in both print and to camera, to have been offered what in my opinion appeared to be a bribe from a person or organisation in the poker machine industry, only to then retract the allegation for no credible reason. I have always been very careful not to accuse Clubs NSW of offering a bribe to Peter Garrett and am intrigued by the Association’s sensitivity during all of this.
“That Clubs NSW initially included me in the proceedings, only to drop it when I refused to retract what I’d said about the whole sorry matter, also just goes to show that the howls of injustice from Clubs NSW were either baseless or ill-considered.
“The fact that Peter Garrett claimed repeatedly to have been handed an envelope full of cash from someone in the poker machine industry was always something that should have been reported, and perhaps even more so when he retracted his claims and replaced them with an entirely different explanation.”
Andrew Wilkie, Independent MP for Denison
