Mr Weatherill and Mr Koustantonis have deliberately misrepresented a finding by Supreme Court Justice Malcolm Blue on a critical Gillman Cabinet submission.
Justice Blue noted the 2 December 2013 Cabinet Submission approved by Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis contained a ‘limited number of changes to the draft provided by Mr Hansen.’
When challenged by journalists about changes they had made to this critical Cabinet submission, Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis have misrepresented Justice Blue’s finding.
On 20 June 2015 Mr Weatherill said:
“Oh look, I don’t think it was material, I think that’s discussed in the judgment… but I can recall reading the judgment and my recollection is they’re minor and not material.”
On 28 January 2015 Mr Koutsantonis claimed:
“Justice Blue looked at the draft and the final submission and found that they were inconsequential.”
Both of these claims are completely untrue. Nowhere does Justice Blue say the changes were ‘inconsequential’ or ‘minor and not material’. Justice Blue only makes reference to the ‘number of changes’.
Mr Koutsantonis also tries to deny responsibility for approving changes to the Cabinet submission on 28 January 2015:
“…. I probably didn’t make them (changes) it was probably the office or Renewal SA…”
“Again, this is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts because Justice Blue said Mr Koutsantonis and Mr Weatherill both signed the Cabinet Submission and therefore approved whatever changes had been made to the critical Cabinet submission,” said Mr Lucas.
“Clearly, these changes must have been made either by the Ministers or their Ministerial staff.
“Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis now need to explain why they have embarked on a deliberate campaign to misrepresent this key finding of Justice Blue.
“It is now time for Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis to finally answer the question of what changes did they approve to this critical Cabinet submission on the controversial Gillman deal.”