The Legislative Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee has finished it’s inquiry into the miserable waste of taxpayers money that has been the Rhodium debacle.
From the committee’s media release:
- The unfortunate events at Rhodium Asset Solutions Ltd do not reflect well on any of the participants. Management, led by the former CEO, engaged in ill-advised spending, treated company assets and business as personal benefits and failed to establish policies and practices of even a basic acceptable standard. The Board failed in its duty to supervise management and did not place any priority on addressing key areas where they were aware of weaknesses. The shareholders, while not directly responsible for the day to day failures and questionable behaviour at Rhodium, failed to establish and communicate its expectations to the company.
Chief Minister Stanhope is furious in response and putting on his angry voice to declare everyone else to be wrong:
- The Greens and Liberals were today exposed for abusing the Assembly committee processes in making an unfounded and indefensible attack on the Government, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said today.
Mr Stanhope said he had obtained legal advice from the ACT Government Solicitor, Mr Peter Garrisson, which utterly demolished the politically-motivated allegations made by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts against him and the Deputy Chief Minister, in a report on Rhodium Asset Solutions.
We’ve already seen that the ACT Government Solicitor says pretty much whatever Mr Stanhope needs him to say and the courts have disagreed with that view in other matters of investigation (Coroner Doogan springs to mind).
UPDATED: With thanks to LG the ABC report is up which notes that Karin MacDonald has now done Mr. Stanhope down for the second time in two days.
These things often come in threes….
ANOTHER UPDATE: Deb Foskey has hit back with another media release:
- “The take home message from the Assembly committee, which can only make recommendations to Government about government related responsibilities, is that shareholder responsibility for Territory Owned Corporations (TOCs) needs to be looked at more closely.”
“Those shareholders, being the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, appointed the Board which still exists, and the Board appointed the CEO.”
“This report has implications for the other TOCs – ACTEW and ACTTAB – where the same shareholders may have a similar interpretation of their roles.”
“Given the crucial role of ACTEW in ensuring the provision of potable water to the ACT, it is important that the shareholders now review their responsibilities under the TOC Act so that ACT residents, whose interest they represent, can feel confidence in them”
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