Minister Jane Howlett must immediately resign for misleading Parliament. If she won’t, Premier Jeremy Rockliff must act decisively and remove her from her position today.
Minister Howlett repeatedly told Parliament her office hadn’t seen a message from Tasracing to industry participants before it was sent during the election period, and that they’d only provided “policy details”. Now we know neither of those things are true.
First, under sworn testimony, the public relations’ representative for Tasracing detailed how he had sent the message in question to the Minister’s office in its entirety. The text of that message makes it clear it was for public consumption. Second, this same person also said categorically he had not received TasInsure policy details from the Minister’s office.
These two pieces of evidence directly contradict what the Minister has repeatedly told Parliament.
There was already such a cloud over Minister Howlett’s position, with a growing number of MPs calling for her to be stood down. Now that it’s clear she misled Parliament as well, there is simply no way the Premier can allow her to keep her position.
Jeremy Rockliff admitted he dropped the ball on the Madeleine Ogilvie affair. Well, he can’t plead ignorance for this one. Minister Howlett’s misleading statements are there for all to see.
If the Premier doesn’t make sure his Minister is removed from her role today, it will really show he has absolutely no integrity left whatsoever.
