TASMANIAN Greens leader Nick McKim has apologised to Federal Hotels for accusing the company of secretly funding a political campaign in the 2006 State Election.
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Mr McKim on Wednesday night used parliamentary privilege to allege the hotel giant financially backed the Tasmanians for a Better Future campaign, which heavily advertised for majority government during the last election.
Federal Hotels adamantly denied any involvement in the campaign.
Yesterday, Mr McKim said he had believed the accusation to be true.
"I take Federal Hotels' denial at face value and therefore, if what Federal Hotels have said is true, I withdraw the assertion and I apologise to Federal Hotels," Mr McKim said.
Mr McKim used the apology to criticise the State Government for not introducing political donations disclosure laws.
"I regarded it as my responsibility as an elected MP to make the assertion in the interests of transparency," Mr McKim said.
"As we do not have state donations disclosure laws in Tasmania, and Tasmanians for a Better Future have never disclosed its membership or funding sources, there is shamefully no way Tasmanians can know exactly how this organisation was funded."
