By Graham Matthews
BRISBANE — The "net bet" fiasco, involving Queensland treasurer David Hamill and deputy speaker Bill D'Arcy, is threatening to throw the Queensland Labor government into crisis. Hamill has had to stand down pending the results of an inquiry by the Attorney-General's Department. Independent MPs are threatening to vote for a motion of no confidence in the government when parliament resumes later this month.
The fiasco centres on Hamill's granting, two months ago, of the first internet casino licence in Queensland, to a company called Gocorp. D'Arcy, Labor councillor Paul Pisasale and former Labor MP Don Livingstone all have a pecuniary interest in Gocorp. The Queensland Criminal Justice Commission is considering investigating possible official misconduct in the granting of the licence.
As further information surrounding net bet has been released by the media, the government has been increasingly embarrassed and forced to take action to avoid collapse. On August 4, Premier Peter Beattie demanded that D'Arcy resign from the deputy speaker's position while inquiries continue.
The following day, a July 1998 ministerial note from Beattie to Treasury instructing officials to speak to D'Arcy about the granting of internet gambling licences was revealed. Beattie had previously denied any knowledge of the decision to grant an internet casino license to Gocorp. In fact, D'Arcy had been lobbying the National Party government throughout 1997 to grant a 10-year exclusive licence for an internet casino to a company in which he had an interest.
There are rumours that D'Arcy may quit the Labor Party and sit as an independent, destroying Beattie's one-seat majority in parliament.
As a face-saving exercise, Beattie has drafted legislation to go to the next sitting of parliament to retrospectively strip the Labor MPs of any profits from their stake in the GOCORP licence.
Beattie has also proposed to ban all Labor MPs from buying shares in the newly privatised Queensland TAB. However, the investment arm of the Labor Party would be free to buy shares.
"This scandal raises real questions about the role of MPs", Democratic Socialist Party Brisbane branch secretary Jim McIlroy told Green Left Weekly. "D'Arcy has become a millionaire after serving as a Labor MP for 27 years. Over the same period, the real wages of his Woodridge constituents have fallen precipitously."
McIlroy argues that the fault lies with the neo-liberal policies being pursued by the Labor government with the same vigour as the Nationals before it. "Labor has created many honey pots for 'investors'. Now Labor members seem to have been caught with their hands stuck in one", he said.