For two years, Jane Howlett has never answered a single question about Jackjumpers allegations. She has never been interviewed by a journalist in the two years since the allegations were made. Now she is Jeremy Rockliff’s star candidate for Lyons and it’s time to answer questions.
As Sports Minister, Jane Howlett was responsible for overseeing many of the arrangements between the Tasmanian Government and the establishment of the Jackjumpers, which included the allocation of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. The allegation is that she was in a close, personal relationship with the CEO of the Juckjumpers, Simon Brookhouse at the time.
Today is the first time she has ever faced a journalist to answer questions.
But there are also questions for Jeremy Rockliff:
- Is Ms Howlett the government member subject of Integrity Commission Investigation ‘Loyeta’ regarding a failure to declare a conflict of interest and a misuse of information, as has previously been speculated in the media?
- What has Mr Rockliff done to satisfy himself about the accuracy or otherwise of the allegations?
- Why is Ms Howlett unable to answer any questions about the matter?
- Why has Ms Howlett been left out of his Ministry on multiple occasions, including for Nick Duigan late last year, given she was described as the ‘best Sports Minister in Tasmanian history’ by Peter Gutwein?
Dean Winter MP
Shadow Minister for Economic Development
