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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What’s Your opinion?
Legislative Assembly Committee drops a bucket on the Government over Rhodium
Chief Minister Gallagher? Fair dinkum, let’s get Pangallo. He’s done alright for Queanbeyan.
Make you wonder how long he will hold on for after the election when they lose their majority (I have no doubt that this will be the outcome) – who is running the book?
Chief Minister Gallagher? or will it be Barr?
attack is the first form of defence?
someone’s getting worried..
You get the distinct impression that had ACT Labor not been in Government for the last 4 years that they may have imploded in similar fashion to the Libs. There looks to be as much drama in the Labor party room as there has been on the other side, with the only difference being that Jon’s team were a bit too busy governing to fight much.
Q. How difficult has this time been for you personally? Did you feel torn between the pressures of party loyalty and doing what you believed was right?
teepee said :
Let’s ask her!
“Yoo hoo, Karin!
“Would you mind if we had a word with you about the Rhodium Report? It won’t take long and you will be a legend if you do. Thank you!!”
: )
She loves me.
Any moment now ….
Stanhope’s involvement cannot be pretty if his colleagues admit things smell – or at the very least have failed for a second time in a second day to come to his defence.
I’m not too sure how to view Karin Macdonald’s involvement on the issue. Either (a) she has done her job professionally without fear of retribution by colleagues (b) she joined in the bollocking of Stanhope out of some factional or personal motive or (c) she may have signed off without reading it thoroughly or thinking through the implications.
I would be interested to hear if she has said anything publicly. Surely it is the media’s job to ask her what she was thinking?
Who appoints the board? the shareholders who were the shareholders???????
Tick tick times up!!!
Look at stanhope twist and turn on his spiral run downhill.
The sooner this grub is ousted from the community the better.
If an MLA is undertaking their role properly and diligently on Committee, then they will have appraised the evidence and testimony presented before them and brought down a report that reflected those facts alone and not party allegiances.
It’s a bit rich of the mayor trying to hang his hat on shareholders not being reponsible because they weren’t directors. Especially when he and the only other shareholder were owning this misguided foray as representatives of the ACT community. Were they elected to run a car leasing shonk?
In his pique of self delusion the mayor is infallible. In this and the bushfire aftermath.
Stanhope doesn’t think that the committee’s report (suggesting that he and Katy failed to uphold their responsibilities as the company’s shareholders) brings credit on anybody?
*grin*
There is nothing like stating the obvious!
He had nothing to say about the government’s dereliction of its duty to ensure public (taxpyers) money was being used in accordance with the laws?
Given this government’s prediliction for giving private entities public money to run various projects, this is quite a concern. It’s a neat tactic, whereby the project isn’t hampered by annoying rules regarding governance to which public entities are subject, and if anything goes wrong (and it is discovered), the government can distance itself and say they had nothing to do with the project, they were paying someone else to do it.
The above comment comes from:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/21/2342742.htm
Which says Karin MacDonald signed off on the ‘grubby report’ before it was released.
It seems all the retiring Labor MLAs are lining up to give Stanhope a kick before they leave. Nice!