Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The CLP's Gerard Maley calls on Labor’s candidate for Fannie Bay to address conflict of interest allegations
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Now it is just two days out from the by
- 0:02Speaker 1: election for Fanny Bay and the battle lines certainly have
- 0:05Speaker 1: been drawn. The COLP opposition is calling on the Labor
- 0:08Speaker 1: candidate for Fanny Bay, Brent Potter, to immediately come clean
- 0:12Speaker 1: on the serious allegations they say of conflict of interest
- 0:16Speaker 1: regarding his work history and securing of a ten million
- 0:19Speaker 1: dollars of taxpayer funds that were apparently raised or this
- 0:23Speaker 1: issue was apparently raised yesterday during a debate on the ABC.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line or joining me in
- 0:29Speaker 1: the studio, I should actually say, it's Jered Mayley, the
- 0:32Speaker 1: Deputy Opposition leader.
- 0:34Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
- 0:34Speaker 3: Jared, Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Now Jered, what exactly is the concern.
- 0:39Speaker 4: Here, Well, what the concern is here is this is
- 0:41Speaker 4: in relation to an alleged conflict of interest. We know
- 0:44Speaker 4: it has been reported in the media that the Labor
- 0:47Speaker 4: candidate was working closely with the CEO of the AAI,
- 0:50Speaker 4: the amphibious aircraft company that now has moved to the
- 0:54Speaker 4: territory and that's got a ten million dollar investment from
- 0:58Speaker 4: the charity government. And Miss Potter said yesterday at the
- 1:01Speaker 4: debate that he facilitated that ten million dollars the grant process,
- 1:06Speaker 4: and he also said previously it's not what you know,
- 1:08Speaker 4: it's who you know in the territory. So what we
- 1:10Speaker 4: want to know is how is Natasha Files managing this
- 1:13Speaker 4: potential conflict of interest because it's a very serious matter,
- 1:16Speaker 4: because that's the Public Service Code of Conduct says this.
- 1:21Speaker 4: You know that public officers should avoid conflict of interests.
- 1:24Speaker 4: We know that this could be a conflict of interest.
- 1:26Speaker 4: And if it's not at the least a perceived conflict
- 1:29Speaker 4: of interest.
- 1:29Speaker 2: Has he declared it though? I mean, if he's declared it,
- 1:32Speaker 2: is it a concern?
- 1:33Speaker 4: Well, that's what I said about how Natasha Files is
- 1:35Speaker 4: managing this because she is. This is about this is
- 1:39Speaker 4: not about really the bilection. It's come to light because
- 1:41Speaker 4: he's now a candidate and it's come a light. But
- 1:43Speaker 4: this is about his employment prior becoming a candidate. This
- 1:46Speaker 4: is about his involvement in a company that's now come
- 1:49Speaker 4: to the charity, which has left several states.
- 1:51Speaker 3: In this day. We don't know the reasons why that's happened.
- 1:53Speaker 4: And more importantly, it's come about that he said he's
- 1:55Speaker 4: facilitated the ten million dollar grant to a company which
- 1:58Speaker 4: we know now he used to work closely with the
- 2:00Speaker 4: CEO of that company. So where's where's the you know,
- 2:03Speaker 4: has his conflict.
- 2:05Speaker 3: Of indursts been managed correctly?
- 2:07Speaker 1: And do you feel as though this is a legitimate
- 2:09Speaker 1: concern though? Is this mud slinging by the coop? I mean,
- 2:12Speaker 1: everyone's got a work history, of.
- 2:14Speaker 4: Course it has, but you know, this is a concern
- 2:16Speaker 4: about you know, the labor government have dealt with all
- 2:18Speaker 4: these corruptions and cover ups and we're talking about Ika
- 2:20Speaker 4: Commission investigations about other things. But this is about someone
- 2:24Speaker 4: who's working with a CEO, comes up into the territory,
- 2:29Speaker 4: facilitates his own words, a ten million dollar grant to
- 2:32Speaker 4: essentially a friend. And how has that been managed by that?
- 2:34Speaker 1: I mean that's a pretty big claim, you know, that
- 2:37Speaker 1: he's doing it with a friend.
- 2:38Speaker 4: Unless his words all right, So he said he facilitated
- 2:41Speaker 4: the ten million dollar grant to the AAI, which is
- 2:45Speaker 4: amphibious aircraft. We know been reported in the media that
- 2:48Speaker 4: he worked closely with the CEO of that department. So
- 2:50Speaker 4: if they're not friends or they don't know each other,
- 2:52Speaker 4: I'm not sitting.
- 2:52Speaker 3: In the studio.
- 2:53Speaker 1: So I mean, as I understand mister Potter had also
- 2:56Speaker 1: claimed that the project had been through all levels of
- 3:00Speaker 1: due diligence, including an independent assessment.
- 3:03Speaker 2: So do you not believe him?
- 3:04Speaker 3: Well, look, I don't know what to believe.
- 3:06Speaker 4: And this is the question that Natasha Files needs to
- 3:08Speaker 4: come out and answer these questions. I know that other
- 3:11Speaker 4: news medias have asked questions of her and she hasn't
- 3:13Speaker 4: answered them. But this is an opportunity for Natasha Files
- 3:16Speaker 4: to come out and clear the air, to tell territorians
- 3:18Speaker 4: and especially there is a biolation coming out where he
- 3:20Speaker 4: is a candidate, what is going on? Has the conflict
- 3:23Speaker 4: if he's been dealt with, has it been was it
- 3:26Speaker 4: influenced anywhere?
- 3:27Speaker 3: And also I hear that there may have been.
- 3:29Speaker 4: Reported to the IK Has it been reported to the Okay,
- 3:31Speaker 4: we don't know that.
- 3:32Speaker 1: Is it a situation here though, Jared, where you know
- 3:34Speaker 1: we've got a candidate who obviously has has previous work experience.
- 3:39Speaker 1: You know everyone's going to have previous work experience. Why,
- 3:42Speaker 1: in your opinion, is it such a concern.
- 3:45Speaker 4: Well, we know that his LinkedIn account has been canceled,
- 3:49Speaker 4: and I was speaking to an next policeman who said
- 3:51Speaker 4: that from his experience when people start hiding things and
- 3:54Speaker 4: deleting things, as you know, there is a concern. So
- 3:56Speaker 4: it's just about clearing the air. Natasha Files needs to
- 3:59Speaker 4: come out in explained to territory and exactly what this
- 4:02Speaker 4: conflict of interest is and how she's managed it all.
- 4:04Speaker 1: Right, Well, I guess it's going to be interesting to
- 4:06Speaker 1: see over the next day or two exactly you know,
- 4:09Speaker 1: what gets said. I actually think it's probably more important
- 4:11Speaker 1: to hear from him himself as to you know, as
- 4:14Speaker 1: to you know, what the work experience is, you know,
- 4:18Speaker 1: what the relationship is and all that kind of thing.
- 4:20Speaker 4: And what his actual role was in relation to because
- 4:23Speaker 4: he only said a few words in that debate. He
- 4:24Speaker 4: says he facilitated the ten million dollar grant. How do
- 4:27Speaker 4: you facilitate it? What you know, and he said in
- 4:29Speaker 4: the previous report is not what you know, it's who
- 4:31Speaker 4: you know. So those comments all in together, but this
- 4:33Speaker 4: is coming out and.
- 4:35Speaker 1: Say it does seem as though it's like comments all
- 4:37Speaker 1: being linked together. You know.
- 4:38Speaker 2: I think he's going to need the opportunity to obviously
- 4:40Speaker 2: defend himself. I don't know the blog.
- 4:42Speaker 1: I've only interviewed him once on the show. But you know,
- 4:45Speaker 1: I do wonder exactly what that work experience is and
- 4:50Speaker 1: whether you know whether it is a serious conflict of
- 4:52Speaker 1: interest or whether it is some mudslinging by the Seal pap.
- 4:56Speaker 4: Well, this is there's two days to go before the
- 4:58Speaker 4: election and we could have a big all out. If you,
- 5:00Speaker 4: mister Potter is listening, come on the shows like myself.
- 5:04Speaker 1: Always welcome on the show. Hey, Jared, I do want
- 5:06Speaker 1: to ask you though as well. We know that teachers
- 5:07Speaker 1: are going to go on strike tomorrow morning, so they're
- 5:09Speaker 1: on strike from nine until one o'clock. Now, this is
- 5:12Speaker 1: something that is impacting a lot of territory families. Of course,
- 5:15Speaker 1: plenty of us have got kids that go to public school.
- 5:17Speaker 2: So I did ask the.
- 5:18Speaker 1: Chief Minister about this earlier this morning. She reckons that
- 5:22Speaker 1: Paul Kirby, who is the Minister for Public Employment, he's
- 5:25Speaker 1: going to be putting together you know, or in discussions.
- 5:28Speaker 2: Obviously with the union.
- 5:31Speaker 1: You know, what do you reckon needs to happen here
- 5:34Speaker 1: in terms of this PayPhrase. The teachers didn't get that
- 5:37Speaker 1: bonus that other public servants did.
- 5:40Speaker 2: What do you think needs to happen here?
- 5:42Speaker 4: Remember, Katie, this has all come about where the Labor
- 5:44Speaker 4: government implored the Langland Report for budget repair because they
- 5:47Speaker 4: know that they've overspent the budget. You know it's about
- 5:49Speaker 4: nine billion now, we overspend about one billion dollars a year.
- 5:53Speaker 4: So this is a report that they commissioned to try
- 5:55Speaker 4: and fix the budget. And in that Lalend report it
- 5:57Speaker 4: says there should be a not a pay for but
- 6:00Speaker 4: there should be a pay rise of one thousand dollars,
- 6:02Speaker 4: where the government has said no, it's a pay freeze
- 6:04Speaker 4: and we're going to give them a bonus, which is
- 6:05Speaker 4: a different because you can't really got to to your
- 6:08Speaker 4: bank and to the mortgage and say, well my income
- 6:11Speaker 4: is this, I might get a bonus whether they want
- 6:13Speaker 4: certain income to. What we want to be able to
- 6:15Speaker 4: do with the cop is to reverse the public service
- 6:18Speaker 4: pay frees. Give them, as per the Langland Report, give
- 6:21Speaker 4: public service pay rise of one thousand dollars a year
- 6:24Speaker 4: and secsily your pay rise.
- 6:25Speaker 3: It's not a pay free so.
- 6:26Speaker 2: You cannot go up with CPI like actually, just.
- 6:29Speaker 4: We need to you know, this is the Langing Report
- 6:31Speaker 4: is in twenty nineteen. This is a report commissioned by
- 6:34Speaker 4: the Labor government and maybe net report needs to be
- 6:36Speaker 4: come out and it looked at again and looked at
- 6:38Speaker 4: because things have changed. Your cost of living has gone up.
- 6:42Speaker 4: This is not about just set and forget policy that
- 6:44Speaker 4: the labors seem to do all the time. They just
- 6:45Speaker 4: set it and forget about it. It needs to be
- 6:47Speaker 4: reviewed because things change. We've had trouble in Europe which
- 6:50Speaker 4: probably wasn't around. We've had COVID in twenty ninety. So
- 6:53Speaker 4: it's not a matter who's putting a report out and
- 6:55Speaker 4: saying this is what they recommend. It's about getting it out
- 6:57Speaker 4: and using what it's so, using recommendations, but then of
- 6:59Speaker 4: course reviewing it.
- 7:00Speaker 1: So just to be clear, so you guys don't have
- 7:02Speaker 1: a set amount or a set sort of pay that
- 7:06Speaker 1: you think needs to change for the teachers or for
- 7:08Speaker 1: other public servants.
- 7:09Speaker 4: We just want to get rid of paying frees and
- 7:11Speaker 4: we want to review it to work out how what's
- 7:13Speaker 4: the best way for territory to move forward.
- 7:15Speaker 2: And so what's the thousand dollars a year?
- 7:17Speaker 3: Well, that thousand dollars a year come out of Langland report.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Yep, all right, so you think that no longer that's
- 7:21Speaker 1: probably no longer relevant.
- 7:22Speaker 3: We need to go that's our starting point.
- 7:24Speaker 4: Yeah, and we need to look at because when a
- 7:26Speaker 4: Langland report was commissioned, COVID wasn't around, the war in
- 7:29Speaker 4: Europe wasn't around, So things have definitely changed, there's no
- 7:31Speaker 4: question about it. But our big message is here we
- 7:33Speaker 4: need to reverse the public for pay frees. We need
- 7:36Speaker 4: to give public servants an opportunity to go on to
- 7:39Speaker 4: improve their pay to match other people in around the
- 7:41Speaker 4: shade because we're not going to get people teachers or
- 7:44Speaker 4: education or police come into the charity if they've got
- 7:47Speaker 4: a low income.
- 7:48Speaker 1: Well, it's certainly going to be interesting to see exactly
- 7:50Speaker 1: what happens over the coming days with the teachers obviously.
- 7:53Speaker 2: Going on strike tomorrow.
- 7:55Speaker 1: We know that there's also been some concerns raised by
- 7:58Speaker 1: the correction staff previous see as well, I know the
- 8:00Speaker 1: fieries and negotiating their pay as well. So there's a
- 8:04Speaker 1: lot going on when it comes to.
- 8:05Speaker 4: The comic Labor government have dropped the ball in relation
- 8:08Speaker 4: to territories.
- 8:09Speaker 1: Well, I've written and authorized by the CLP there, Jereed Mailey,
- 8:14Speaker 1: nothing nothing like kicking the boot in at the end.
- 8:17Speaker 2: I'm sure that you know that labor would do the same.
- 8:20Speaker 1: This morning.
- 8:21Speaker 2: I've given the opportunity, we are going to have to
- 8:23Speaker 2: leave it there