VIC: State government to appeal casino documents decision = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-1998
VIC: State government to appeal casino documents decision = 2

VCAT vice-president Tim Wood had ordered the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the
Department of Treasury and Finance to release 21 documents containing financial information
about the competing bids.

He said the release of the documents, sent to government ministers during the 1993 bidding
process for Melbourne's monopoly casino licence, was in the public interest.

Opposition gaming spokesman Rob Hulls has pursued the documents through the courts since
1996 after the government refused to release them under Freedom of Information. He said the
government's decision to appeal showed it wanted to cover up the bidding process.

The government was obviously trying to keep the documents under wraps until after the next
election, which can be held as early as June next year, he said.

"This is an extraordinary decision, if the government had nothing to hide they would be
releasing these documents forthwith without wasting hundreds and thousands of dollars more of
taxpayer dollars," Mr Hulls told AAP.

"The government appeal is really saying to the Victorian public you have no right to know
what went on during the tender process, and is showing a gross contempt for the public."

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KEYWORD: CASINO VIC 2 MELBOURNE

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