Scott Morrison calls on John Howard to lie about why he was sacked from Tourism Australia but the lie doesn’t explain why he was also sacked from Tourism NZ
Scott Morrison was sacked as Managing Director of Tourism Australia in 2006 by the John Howard government and since that time no one would say why. But now John Howard is quoted in the SMH as saying it was a ‘clash of personalities’ with the tourism minister which very much seems like an attempt to neutralize the scandal before the next federal election. This raises more questions than it answers as Morrison also left as the head of Tourism New Zealand in a hurry in 2000 with similar complaints about his performance and conduct.
We will have a look at the SMH article quoting John Howard in a minute but it worth reviewing the article I published in June 2019, which has had over 316,000 views, titled “Looks like PM Scott Morrison was sacked as Managing Director of Tourism Australia in 2006 because of fraud and theft” and I said:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was sacked as Managing Director of Tourism Australia in 2006 and he has always refused to say why. One thing is for certain, it had to be massive wrongdoing by Morrison. Why? Because Scott Morrison, who was State Director of the New South Wales Liberal Party from 2000 to 2004, was sacked by a Liberal Party Minister in the Liberal Party John Howard government and they don’t sack one of their own for a minor reason or even a major reason. Morrison’s sacking had to be something, at the very least, bordering on criminal and more than likely actual criminal conduct.
Since 2006 Scott Morrison has refused to answer questions about his sacking and little has been known about the reasons for it until now. Journalist Karen Middleton published an article on Saturday (8/6/19) which she spent 6 months investigating and to me it makes it clear Morrison was likely sacked for deliberate lies and deception in relation to the awarding of government contracts worth $184 million.
Karen Middleton writes in The Saturday Paper:
Thirteen years after Scott Morrison was mysteriously sacked from a senior public sector job as managing director of Tourism Australia, a six-month investigation by The Saturday Paper has created the clearest picture yet of the events surrounding his dismissal.
Documents obtained by The Saturday Paper under freedom of information laws show Morrison received a pay rise less than a month before he was sacked, taking his annual base salary from $318,031 to $332,030, with discretion for his employer to add up to 2.5 percent on top.
Around the time of Morrison’s dismissal, it was suggested he was paid out after having his contract terminated more than a year early. Sources have since confirmed this.
It was long speculated that the sacking was the result of a personality clash between Morrison and Bailey or differences over her plans to restructure the agency.
But late last year, The Saturday Paper uncovered an auditor-general’s report from 2008 examining the handling of three major contracts, which had delivered a scathing assessment of Tourism Australia’s management.
The report provided the first indication as to the real reason Morrison was removed.
The contracts were worth $184 million, and the auditor focused most on the two biggest – those with companies M&C Saatchi for global creative services or advertising campaigns, and Carat for media placement.
The audit report revealed that information had been kept from the board, procurement guidelines breached and private companies engaged before paperwork was signed and without appropriate value-for-money assessments.
Both before and since becoming prime minister in August last year, Scott Morrison has refused to answer questions about why the tourism minister took the unusual step in July 2006 of sacking him as head of the agency. He has also refused to answer questions about the handling of the contracts, which were signed the previous year. He did not respond to questions for this story before time of press. (Click here to read the full article)
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