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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 151 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 27 May 2021 by Mr V.A. Catania

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

PINDAN GROUP — GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

151. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Premier:

I refer to comments yesterday by the Minister for Housing about the potential for legal action against the government if it sought to break the contract with the Pindan Group.

(1) Does Pindan trading while insolvent constitute a breach of the government contract; and, if not, why not?

(2) Is the Premier aware that Pindan Asset Management is completely incapable of delivering any of its contractual obligations, let alone putting fuel in its workers' cars?

(3) Will the government consider breaking the contract with Pindan to give assurance and certainty to subcontractors that they will be paid to complete work in communities expecting projects to be delivered?

The SPEAKER: Just before I call anyone, you cannot seek a legal opinion in a question, so I ask the Premier to keep that in mind. The member should not have sought a legal opinion as part of that question. I will invite the Premier to answer the other parts, and if the member wants to ask a supplementary, he will get the opportunity.

Mr M. McGOWAN replied:

(1)–(3) It is obviously a difficult situation for many subcontractors and workers who either subcontract to or work for Pindan. The government put in place a range of mechanisms to try to ensure it was aware if anything of this nature was occurring or going to occur, but none of the systems that were put in place identified that there was an issue or a problem, certainly not at any significant time before they occurred. I think it is a surprise to many people that this occurred. I know there has been speculation that people were aware and so forth some months before, but that is not our information or advice. Regarding the management of the issue by the Minister for Housing, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Commerce, I am very confident that we are doing all we can to protect both the state's and the other interests involved to the best of our capacity. Obviously, I am not going to engage in language that exacerbates the situation, makes it worse or points the finger of blame at people in relation to this matter. The main thing we can do is pass new laws to ensure we do our best to prevent this from occurring again.