Labor Leader Clare Martin today claimed the CLP Government was "all over the shop" on the purchase of the transmission line from Darwin to Katherine.
Last week Mike Reed was stating emphatically that the Government was under an obligation to buy the line.
"The Opposition at the time said that if such an obligation existed, it should have been reported in the Treasurer's Annual Financial Statement. Having been caught out badly, Mike Reed imposed a cone of silence on himself."
"But yesterday, Denis Burke stated that it was uncertain as to whether or not an obligation to buy the line existed," Ms Martin said.
"They both can't be right. One or the other must be lying."
Denis Burke indicated yesterday that Cabinet agreed to the purchase of the line back in June.
"The issue of whether or not there was an obligation to purchase must have been clear at that time. In any event, once the decision had been made to buy the line, there was a clear liability for Government from that point to pay for it. That liability should have been reported in the latest Treasurer's Annual Financial Statement even if it couldn't be quantified."
Section 9(1)(d) of the Financial Management Act says that the Statement must contain:
- material liabilities of the Territory and Agencies and material contingent liabilities of the Territory and Agencies, except if the event upon which the liability is contingent is unlikely to occur.
"A $43 million purchase is pretty material in anyone's language, but this liability was not reported. This is deceit on a grand scale."
Ms Martin said there are far too many unanswered questions.
"Territorians still don't know what the REAL commercial value of the line is. Just because it was less than the asking price, doesn't mean we got a bargain. We also haven't received any assurance that the line is still necessary from an engineering point of view. With efficient generating capacity available all along the route, or able to be installed, why do we need an expensive transmission line as well?" Ms Martin asked.

