Treasurer Peter Gutwein could face a contempt of Parliament charge after he refused to comply with a summons to provide information to a high-powered committee investigation of the state’s energy crisis.
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That is the view of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Ivan Dean who went head-to-head with the Treasurer in a tense 20-minute exchange during a hearing on Thursday over a letter Mr Gutwein wrote to Energy Minister Matthew Groom on the planned sale of the Tamar Valley Power Station.
Afterwards, Mr Dean said Mr Gutwein’s refusal to produce the letter was a “very serious matter” and that the committee would determine the next course of action after the issue was referred to both houses of Parliament.
During the hearing, Mr Gutwein expressed frustration in not being able to discuss the committee’s process and circumstances leading up to his subpoenaed appearance at Thursday’s hearing.
That information was leaked to the media last week before an official summons had reached the Treasurer.
“Chairman, PAC is an important and highly respected committee of the Parliament,” Mr Gutwein said.
“It is deeply unfortunate that this particular inquiry has become so politicised.”
Mr Dean said issues to do with leaks from the committee during the inquiry would be discussed once a special report was tabled in Parliament next week.
The hearing was adjourned shortly after.
Later at a media conference, Mr Gutwein criticised the committee for not allowing him to provide the full reasoning behind his decision not to supply the requested information, saying that the document was determined to be Cabinet-in confidence.
"To gag a minister of the Crown from providing a statement to a parliamentary committee is unheard of,” he said.
"What it demonstrates in that this committee is so politically tainted; it's integrity so undermined.
"Quite frankly, it was a disgrace what occurred there this morning."
"That committee is acting like a kangaroo court. It’s outrageous the way the committee has behaved.”
In his prepared statement to the committee hearing, Mr Gutwein detailed a conversation he had with Mr Dean in which he apologised after the plan to subpoena the letter had been run by media.
“I don’t intend to repeat on the public record the conversation we had, but suffice to say I believe that you shared my view that this latest leak raised serious questions about the integrity of the committee and its processes,” Mr Gutwein had written in his statement.
When contacted by Fairfax Tasmania on Thursday, Mr Dean refused to confirm whether he had stated an opinion on the matter.
Labor Deputy Leader Michelle O’Byrne claimed that the letter was not Cabinet-in-confidence but correspondence between two government ministers.
“The Liberals have been desperate to cover up their role in the energy crisis but today it’s reached a whole new level,” she said.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said Mr Gutwein’s refusal to provide the letter indicated that the government made a decision to sell the power station against Treasury advice.