Report confirms Minister was asleep at the wheel

It has taken two reports into the A1GP fiasco to show the Bligh Labor Government should have known exactly what the Opposition knew last August.

State Opposition and LNP Leader John-Paul Langbroek said Queenslanders have had enough of lies and excuses and it was time the Premier sacked the Minister for Sport.

“These scathing reports show that the Minister for Sport was asleep at the wheel and that the Premier bungled the contracts by focusing on the headlines not the bottom line,” Mr Langbroek said.

“When the Premier cannot even run a weekend motor race on the Gold Coast it is no wonder that Queensland has lost its AAA credit rating and fallen deep into debt during the boom times.”

Mr Dempsey said the Sports Minister had lied to Parliament by claiming IMG had conducted the due diligence into the event and that it was subject to commercial in confidence.

“Today’s reports reveal that the Gold Coast Motor Events Corporation completed the little due diligence that was done and that if the Minister had released the information last September the Gold Coast would not have been embarrassed by the A1GP fiasco,” Mr Dempsey said.

“Minister Reeves also demonstrated his incompetence and lack of business sense by allowing the first sanction fee to be paid fourteen days early – the day after the operations arm of A1GP went into liquidation – without seeking any information from the liquidator about the company’s financial difficulties.

“It appears that with just a wink and a nod from Labor mate Terry Mackenroth the Minister believed everything would be okay.”

Mr Langbroek said the fiasco had become a test of Bligh’s leadership and her ability to stand up to caucus and sack the incompetent Sports Minister.

“Minister Reeves’ incompetence has cost Queensland taxpayers $1.8 million, it is time for the Premier to show some leadership and show the Minister the door.”