Senator Kate Lundy, shadow minister for Information Technology, has delivered a stinging attack on former finance minister John Fahey over his role in the controversial federal IT contract in 1999.
Lundy today accused Fahey of being involved in a cover up to conceal flaws in the tender process in which bids by two companies vying for the contract were inadvertently revealed to third competitor, IBM Global Services Australia (IBM GSA).
IBM GSA subsequently revised its bid and won the tender.
Fahey, in September, gave evidence for an Australian National Auditors Office (ANAO) report that slammed the tender. Fahey told the ANAO he believed that tender's integrity had been damaged too much to continue when he was informed of the error by the Office of Asset Sales and Information Technology Outsourcing (OASITO) in 1999.
But Lundy today dismissed the evidence saying at the time Fahey ignored Labor calls for the tender to be brought to an immediate halt.
-This has been a disgraceful cover-up of mismanagement and impropriety" said Lundy. -It's pathetic that Fahey has waited three years to reveal that he allowed a potentially corrupted and flawed tender process to continue".
Lundy has also questioned Fahey's account of the events surrounding the Government's handling of the tender. Fahey told the ANAO inquiry that he regretted that the Probity Officer involved in the situation had not had a greater role in the dispute.
However, according to Lundy, Fahey's statement contradicts evidence given by OASITO to a Senate estimates committee concerning the matter in February 2000. OASITO said that it briefed the probity auditor in person.
"We engaged the probity auditor to participate in all of our discussions to make sure that he fully witnessed the nature of the discussions," said OASITO representatives at the time.
This, The Children Overboard Scandal, the GST. How much more are we going to let the current govt mislead us??
Dont blame me, I voted Labour.