Racing Minister Jane Howlett’s office knew about a TasRacing message that breached caretaker conventions before it was sent, a parliamentary committee has heard.
The evidence has prompted fresh calls for her to resign and raised questions over whether the government potentially tabled a false statutory declaration in parliament.
Nick Turner, the executive chairman of Corcomms, which manages communications for TasRacing, gave evidence to the committee on Monday.
Turner said he forwarded the full content of the message to one of Howlett’s advisers before it was sent to racing industry stakeholders.
TasRacing, a government-owned enterprise, sent the message to industry participants during last year’s election campaign, promoting the Liberals’ proposed TasInsure policy.
Caretaker conventions bar the use of government resources for party-political messaging.
Howlett has repeatedly told parliament since November that neither she nor anyone in her office knew about the message.
But emails released under right to information laws, first reported by the ABC, showed a senior adviser was aware of it before it went out.
That adviser tabled a statutory declaration to parliament stating he was “at no time” aware of any plan to issue public communication “about the TasInsure policy on any platform”.
Turner said the adviser saw the “entirety of the message” but was not told how or when it would be sent.
He said his contact with the office was for “line of sight” only and not for approval.
A state government spokesperson said any suggestion the “minister misled is simply untrue” and “not supported by the evidence presented at the committee hearing”.
“The minister’s advisor did not have knowledge of TasRacing’s intended plan to issue public communications,” the spokesperson said.
“The adviser did what he was employed to do – answer stakeholder questions about the policy.”
Labor’s integrity spokeswoman Ella Haddad said the minister “must go”.
“Yesterday the minister’s position in cabinet was untenable. Today she simply has to stand down,” Haddad said.
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said the committee had heard sworn evidence that Howlett misled parliament and expects the minister to be gone today.
“She has to resign,” Woodruff said. “She made very clear, repeated statements to parliament last year that were directly opposite the sworn testimony … this morning.”
“We would find it unbelievable that Minister Howlett would be in parliament tomorrow as a minister.”
“It would be a terrible sign of Premier Rockliff’s leadership if that was what was to happen and I think parliament would be forced to take a very direct response.”
Howlett was only recently sworn into the arts portfolio, taking over from Madeleine Ogilvie, who resigned a fortnight ago amid allegations she misled parliament over taxpayer-funded legal bills.
Howlett has faced controversy in recent days after refusing to reveal how more than $300,000 in taxpayer-funded legal fees spent on her behalf was used.
