i always thought 666bowler was an honest man, page-11

Minister faces sack over Cabinet leak tapeBy Tony Barrass and Amanda O'Brien
February 27, 2007 02:00am
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A FOURTH West Australian minister will be sacked after a bug placed by corruption investigators in the apartment of Brian Burke's business partner revealed he was leaking Cabinet information.

In a sensational recording played to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission last night, former resources minister John Bowler was heard giving Julian Grill, the partner of the disgraced former premier, the rundown on what had happened to a proposal before Cabinet.

It is the first time investigators have used a bug - as opposed to telephone intercepts - to get to the bottom of corruption allegations now crippling the Government of Premier Alan Carpenter.

Mr Bowler had earlier denied discussing sensitive government matters with Mr Grill at his West Perth apartment.

But in the transcript played last night, Mr Grill is heard saying: "So, how'd cabinet go?"

Mr Bowler replied, "Good, good, yes, deferred a couple of big decisions", before detailing numerous issues while Mr Grill took notes.

The dramatic development comes just one day after Mr Carpenter was forced to sack environment minister Tony McRae over his evidence to the commission - a decision that has sparked factional brawling within the state Labor Party.

Mr McRae, who was the third minister sacked by Mr Carpenter in nine months, denies he has done anything wrong.

The CCC, whose hearings have exposed Mr Burke's extraordinary reach in the top echelons of the state Government, revealed yesterday that Mr Bowler made 109 telephone calls to either Mr Burke or Mr Grill while he was minister and that Mr Burke, Mr Grill and Mr Bowler came up with a plan to use Mr Grill's wife, Lesley, as a secret contact point so emails and phone calls between the trio couldn't be linked after Mr Burke warned Mr Bowler over "FOIable" emails.

Also, Mr Grill's apartment - close to Parliament House and Mr Bowler's office - was used as a secret meeting place where dinners and discussions with Mr Burke took place and proposals before the Government were discussed. And a former West Australian agent-general to London, who is now a senior public servant, leaked a highly confidential letter to Mr Burke relating to decisions affecting one of Mr Burke's clients, a Macquarie Bank subsidiary.

Also yesterday, Agriculture Minister Kim Chance became the first minister to emerge from the commission with his career intact after being cleared of any nefarious links with Mr Burke. His name and that of Mr Bowler were suppressed by the commission last week.

In the third and final week of public hearings, senior counsel Stephen Hall outlined yet another CCC line of inquiry, which would examine the role Mr Burke and Mr Grill played in three decisions made by the Carpenter Government that were beneficial to their clients.

It will examine whether Precious Metals Australia was given inside information in its battle with Xstrata over the Windimurra Vanadium Project near Mt Magnet, 600km northeast of Perth; if Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group received inside information relating to a problem the company had with putting its much-vaunted Pilbara railway line through Aboriginal rock art; and whether the Kimberley Diamond Company secured sensitive government information relating to a cabinet decision about royalties.

Mr Bowler, who was demoted and removed by Mr Carpenter from the resources portfolio in December after he admitted regular contact with the lobbyists, is now Local Government and Racing and Gaming Minister. Sources last night said Mr Carpenter would sack the minister as soon as he finished giving evidence.

Mr Bowler yesterday admitted regular meetings with the pair but when pressed about whether he passed on cabinet information, fudged his answers, saying there were often discussion after cabinet that could not be properly described as cabinet discussions.

At one stage, Mr Bowler admitted he "may have" told Mr Grill and Mr Burke about matters before cabinet "from time to time", but when asked about a specific meeting at Mr Grill's apartment in June last year, Mr Bowler said he had not passed on any information. The CCC then played recordings of the bug.

In earlier evidence, a deputy director-general for the Department of Industry and Resources and former West Australian agent-general to London, Gary Stokes, was accused of leaking confidential information to Mr Grill last year that benefited his client, Urban Pacific, a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank.

Secretly recorded phone conversations exposed him providing information to Mr Grill in February last year about his department's position on a controversial planning matter regarding the rezoning of land from mining use to urban before a decision had been made.

Mr Stokes was heard telling Mr Grill he could "close a chapter on your Urban Pacific dealings" because the department would withdraw its objections to the company's application to rezone the land, which contained mineral deposits of interest to at least one mining company, for urban development. "Oh brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant, Gary. Brilliant," Mr Grill replies.

Mr Stokes then laughs as he says: "There was a lot of opposition, there'll be some pi***ssed off people, but you know sometimes you gotta lose to win."

The following month, after a request from Mr Burke, Mr Stokes gave him a confidential letter outlining the department's position on the issue, including commercially sensitive information, and tells him to treat it as confidential.

Mr Burke then forwards it to Urban Pacific's project manager, David Cecchele, telling him to keep it secret: "You must, must protect me on it because otherwise my source will get sacked," Mr Burke says.

Mr Cecchele testified yesterday that the information had provided a benefit to the company in its subsequent negotiations with the Government.