Quarantine questions

PREMIER Peter Gutwein has defended the actions of a head of department who helped a developer circumvent coronavirus quarantine barriers that would have prevented workers from finishing off a new hotel.

Mr Gutwein said there was nothing untoward about the actions and no rules were broken.

PREMIER Peter Gutwein says there was nothing untoward about the head of a government department helping Liberal Party donors gain quarantine exemptions to bring construction workers into the state.

In a speech at the opening of the Crowne Plaza Hotel project on Wednesday, Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief Steve Old said he helped Kalis Group circumvent trouble getting staff into the state to finish the project on time.

According to those present, he thanked Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment secretary Tim Baker for his assistance in getting the workers exemptions from quarantine regulations.

Mr Baker’s department was not the one handling exemptions, which were the responsibility of the State Controller Darren Hine.

Mr Old later said the project would otherwise not have been completed on time.

“With coronavirus, they had some deals in place with specialist workers coming in from the mainland, and they needed to get approval for them to come in, otherwise this job would have been delayed and they probably would have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

“There were no rules broken or anything like that.

“It was just about probably as much for me having contacts to be able to make sure they got to the right people quickly to get the authorisation either approved or not.”

The THA was a major Liberal Party donor in the lead-up to the last state election, with $269,750 in declared contributions. Kalis Hospitality donated $70,000 to the Liberals.

Mr Gutwein said there was no scandal.

“I don’t think he indicated that any strings were pulled at all,” he said.

“He contacted DPIPWE, which is responsible for biosecurity, and the ultimate decision based on that advice is made by the state controller.

“The first I knew about that matter was when I heard that the exemption had been granted. I had no involvement whatsoever.”

Labor’s Treasury spokesman David O’Byrne said the approval didn’t make sense.

“It does raise a question around equity and probity in this process,” he said.

“We know that there have been thousands of jobs lost in the building construction industry in Tasmania.

“If we’ve got companies flying in workers from the mainland, doing work that could actually be done by locals, that’s a real concern.

“But also if it’s who you know, not what you know, and if they’ve stepped outside the appropriate processes, I think every Tasmanian would have a right to be concerned.”