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AMANDA BANKS, The West Australian
March 29, 2012, 6:37 pm
ED: Is this the same Ron Alexander that screwed RWA so royally over the use of Subi? And didnt want us to even move to NIB?
Department of Sport and Recreation chief Ron Alexander complained that Liberal Party lobbyists had hijacked negotiations over the redevelopment of NIB stadium and stymied efforts to ensure the $95 million taxpayer investment in the project was spent wisely, Freedom of Information documents released by the Opposition have revealed.
Shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt said the documents revealed that lobbyists had interfered to protect the interests of venue manager Allia and Mr Alexander’s advice that the management contract should be renegotiated on the back of the $95 million Government investment had been ignored.
Mr Wyatt said the failure to renegotiate the contract meant that opportunities to give the State access to revenue sharing arrangements, influence ongoing subsidies and promote the interests of stadium users had been foregone.
“This has been a huge missed opportunity to ensure that the taxpayers of WA got a significant benefit from their $100 million investment in NIB stadium and just as important, better access to that facility for sporting codes,” Mr Wyatt said.
“It has squandered a massive opportunity.”
The documents released under FOI include an email sent from Mr Alexander to the office of the Sports and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron on April 28 last year which complained that the department had been left in an “invidious position” because Allia had employed Liberal Party lobbyists to “work on the Government for them.”
“Trying to ensure that we develop a strong negotiating position has been difficult with (Allia) and (former Vincent mayor) Nick Catania dealing directly with the Premier’s office and our Minister’s office at will,” Mr Alexander said in the email.
“We never have been given the authority to get on and ensure the communities’ $90m + is wisely spent.
Every time one of them doesn’t like something they run off to higher office and we have to deal remotely with third hand information, hearsay and rightly or wrongly, the feeling of not being heard or supported on occasions.”
In a statement today, Mr Alexander said his job was to ensure the public were well represented in the deal. He said he had been aware the GRA Everingham had represented Allia and there was always hearsay in the community about interest groups.
“These were early days in the negotiation; the ensuing negotiations have seen a better deal,” Mr Alexander said.
“We have now greatly improved infrastructure in place at NIB stadium, which allayed my earlier concerns.”
Confronted in State Parliament yesterday over the documents, Premier Colin Barnett said his office had taken over responsibility for the commercial renegotiation of the heads of agreement for the project, which was a difficult process, and noted Allia had a contract for the management of the venue until 2024.
Mr Barnett said Mr Alexander had confirmed that to the best of his knowledge, there had been no involvement of any lobbyist in any negotiations in which he was involved.
He said Paul Everingham had made some telephone calls about the project which were of a generic nature and before negotiations over the agreement.
“There was no contact between myself, my office, or the director general with any lobbyist during the process of negotiating the heads of agreement,” Mr Barnett said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...-by-lobbyists/
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Originally Posted by GIGS20
