Police still reviewing files from ‘73 probe

TASMANIA Police is still reviewing its files of a 1973 investigation into allegations that then-deputy premier Kevin Lyons was bribed to resign and bring down the Bethune Liberal government in 1972.

In response to a request by Denison independent MHR Andrew Wilkie, Police Commissioner Darren Hine in May agreed to review allegations that Mr Lyons was bribed by British Tobacco and given incentives by Federal Hotels.

Mr Lyons held balance of power in State Parliament at the time, and his sudden and largely unexplained resignation caused the fall of the Liberal Government.

Author James Boyce reignited the issue with claims in his new book, Losing Streak: How Tasmania was Gamed by the Gambling Industry.

But Federal this week has dismissed Boyce’s claims as biased. Spokesman Daniel Hanna said Boyce’s inference that police had handled the original probe improperly was an insult. “He makes a series of allegations and assertions, construed to serve his predetermined views,” he said.

“Let’s be clear, we’re dealing with a series of events that happened a long, long time ago and we’ve got a biased author interpreting documents and second-hand information to suit his own agenda. There isn’t a single person at Federal Group today that was involved in these matters and there is no knowledge of the allegations among current staff.”

He said a 1973 police report found the Federal Group in no way acted improperly and “key informant former MP Ken Austin later made a public apology to Federal Group and others for his misrepresentation of facts”.

But Boyce said Federal told the 1973 police probe that it had not employed Mr Lyons after he resigned, however, did not declare that it had employed Lyons’ newly acquired PR firm.

British American Tobacco Australia spokesman Josh Fett said there were no current company employees with any memory of the allegations.

He said it had not been contacted by Tasmania Police and it needed to be noted that British American Tobacco Australia and British Tobacco were not the same company.

“British Tobacco, which was a part of a larger group of companies, later became Allied Manufacturing and Trading Industries Ltd, which later became Amatil, and thus entirely separate entities to British American Tobacco Australia,” he said.

“As such, I can’t be sure that these historic allegations refer to the tobacco arm of the British Tobacco business.”