Minister sacked over land holdings in the Hunter Valley

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has sacked his Skills Minister Tim Crakanthorp and referred him to the state's corruption watchdog. Mr Crakanthorp had failed to disclose family land holdings in the state's Hunter Valley region.

Transcript

00:00 Well, look, this is this government's first scalp, just over four months since it was

00:05 elected after so long in opposition.

00:08 The Premier called a snap media conference this afternoon at about 4.15, which is never

00:13 good news usually for a government, to announce that he had learned that Tim Crackenthorpe,

00:17 who's the Minister for Skills, Tape and The Hunter, had failed to disclose that his family

00:23 held significant property interests in The Hunter and that there were concerns that they

00:28 may have given rise to a conflict of interest between decisions that he was dealing with

00:33 and matters that he was dealing with in his public duties and his private interests.

00:37 Now Chris Mins said that he had talked to Mr Crackenthorpe and told him that he could

00:42 no longer remain in the job and he's also referred him to the corruption watchdog.

00:48 Here's what Chris Mins had to say a short time ago.

00:51 Minister Crackenthorpe did not supply information about substantial private family holdings

00:57 in The Hunter region until recently, when he should have, constituting a clear breach

01:02 of the ministerial code.

01:03 I have forwarded that information and other information to the Independent Commission

01:08 Against Corruption for an inquiry by them if they choose to do so.

01:12 Obviously we were elected not long ago with a promise to restore trust and integrity to

01:18 public matters and public life.

01:20 OK Sarah, so what happens from here?

01:25 Well look, the ICAC will look at this matter and see whether it thinks it is worth investigating.

01:30 At this stage we don't know what kind of portfolio this area, this conflict of interest came

01:35 up in, whether it was a mining matter or some other kind of issue which potentially created

01:40 it.

01:41 However we do know that for the time being Mr Crackenthorpe will stay in the Labor Party

01:45 room and Mr Mins says if the ICAC decides that this is worth an investigation then that

01:50 will no longer be allowed to be the case.

01:53 In the meantime his portfolios are being taken over by the Deputy Premier Pru Kha and the

01:58 Police Minister Yasmin Katli, at least temporarily until Mr Mins has made a decision about who

02:04 will fill them permanently.

02:05 However he has said this is a breach of the ministerial code and he has lost confidence

02:09 in Tim Crackenthorpe's ability to stay as a minister so he certainly won't be making

02:14 a return to this portfolio by the sounds of it, even if the ICAC decides there's nothing

02:18 to investigate.

02:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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