Page 1999 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 June 1994
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Mr Berry: You will name them all and blacken them all again.
MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Berry once again interjects. I am pleased that he interjects this time as well. Mr Berry says that I am going to blacken people's names. I do not need to do that, Mr Berry. Read what Professor Pearce says. There was a gentleman named Mr Peter Bartholomew. Some people at this public inquiry said that Mr Bartholomew was either a chauffeur or a bodyguard. We had people running around, not being sure whether he was someone to do with marketing. Somebody else said that he was a chauffeur. Somebody else said that he was a bodyguard. Mr Hawke, according to the Pearce report, gave Mr Bartholomew a glowing report. I quote from paragraph 98 of the Pearce report, where Professor Pearce says that Mr Hawke said in camera:
I have found them honourable and decent and competent men with whom to deal ... as distinct from some of these loose lipped politicians around the place who want to cast aspersions at least on Mr Bartholomew, all I can say is I have found him an honourable, decent, intelligent and competent man.
The question to be asked is: Who is Mr Bartholomew, whom Mr Hawke finds to be such a competent and intelligent man? Let us see what Professor Pearce has to say about that. In paragraph 86 Professor Pearce says:
VITAB found its genesis in discussions between Mr Peter Bartholomew, Mr Hawke and Mr Kolomanski.
We know that Mr Peter Bartholomew has been involved in the setting up of VITAB since day one. Again, let us see what Professor Pearce has to say. In paragraph 97, referring again to Mr Bartholomew, he said:
Mr Bartholomew did, however, approach the Queensland TAB on behalf of VITAB when the possibility of a link between VITAB and Queensland was under consideration. Mr Kolomanski indicated that at one time it was intended that Mr Bartholomew might have a role in marketing for GMI and there was also a written indication that he would become a shareholder and director of that company if approved by ACTTAB. This was subsequently withdrawn about the time questions about Mr Bartholomew were raised by Members of the Opposition.
Here we have a situation where Mr Bartholomew was intended to be a director of VITAB; they were going to ask ACTTAB to approve Mr Bartholomew, and no probity checks were done. Yes, Mr Hawke gave Mr Bartholomew a glowing reference. The fact that Mr Bartholomew and Mr Hawke are business partners in multimillion dollar deals has nothing to do with it! Of course, we can believe Mr Hawke! Professor Pearce said in paragraph 77 of the report that Mr Hawke came to town and told everybody that we competed against the rest of the country to get this deal. Mr Hawke said that publicly. Professor Pearce says:
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