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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 4014 ..

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, are you aware that on 30 December 1996, just a week after your call to Mr De Domenico in Melbourne, only a fortnight after his first meeting with Mr Knop, and only three weeks after Mr De Domenico dismissed Ms Rees, Mr De Domenico met with Mr Knop and Mr Pierre Alla, the managing director of AWS, in Sydney; and, further, that on 4 January 1997 Mr Knop offered Mr De Domenico a package worth $165,000 on behalf of AWS? When did you become aware of these matters, if you did, and how did you become aware of them?

MRS CARNELL: I am not sure, Mr Speaker. I have to say that what Tony does or any of my Ministers do with their private lives is not something that I spend a lot of time keeping a day-to-day and minute-to-minute account of. What I do keep a day-to-day and minute-to-minute account of is what we are spending taxpayers' money on and whether any inappropriate behaviour is involved. Whom Mr De Domenico met with, at what time, and who offered Mr De Domenico private sector jobs, I do not believe is any of our business here, I have to tell you. My perception is that it certainly was none of my business.

MR WOOD: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Chief Minister, you responded to a character check on Mr De Domenico. What was your understanding of the reason behind that check?

MRS CARNELL: Again, I make the point: I have to assume that people were looking at Mr De Domenico for a job of some description. But I have to say that character checks are things I do lots of.

Mr Whitecross: Which other Ministers have you done them for?

MRS CARNELL: I did not say "Ministers". The bottom line here is that if Mr De Domenico or, for that matter, anybody else - people like Rosemary Follett and Terry Connolly, who obviously were looking for other jobs - - -

Mr Kaine: Have you done one on Andrew Whitecross lately?

MRS CARNELL: Obviously, members of this Assembly from time to time look for jobs elsewhere. It is certainly not something that I believe is the business of anybody in this house. What is the business of people in this house is that no taxpayers' money is spent on such things. I can certainly guarantee that that is the case, and that there were no deals and there were no enticements or anything else you can think of. If Mr De Domenico wants to have meetings with people with regard to jobs in the private sector, that is his business. Mr Speaker, when or on what date Mr De Domenico was offered a job, I have no idea. As I said in answer to the first question, I knew about Mr De Domenico's job offer when he told me about it.

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