By ERWIN CHLANDA
Chief Minister Adam Giles will not answer questions about whether he received a substantial political donation, and failed to declare it to the NT Electoral Commission.
The Alice Springs News Online has a statutory declaration from a person we consider reliable, saying that Mr Giles hired a 4WD car from the employment and training agency CEA and paid just $400 for two months of use.
Mr Giles used the vehicle in his 2012 election campaign. It had electioneering images and text pasted all over it, according to our source.
We put to Mr Giles that if he had received a donation, he was obliged to disclose it, as with any “in-kind gifting of goods, assets and services that were free or below true market value. You lodged a nil return”.
Any gift worth $200 or more must be declared.
We first raised the issues in an email, to his government address, five days ago, on September 28 at 1:04pm, and again yesterday at 4:41pm. We have not received a response to either.
We rang Mr Giles’ mobile at 11:21am today and left a message but received no reply.  We left a message on the mobile of his media minder at 12:10pm – no reply.
Mr Giles (at left) was an employee of the CEA prior to his political career, according to our source.
Adam’s wife Tamara was the manger of CEA. Which was a business arm of ITEC. I cannot believe anyone would raise this as an issue.
Yes, I am a liberal voter and I support Adam. Let’s move away from the mischief making and focus on the outcomes for the Territory. Questions that need to asked are simple.
Is the Territory growing financially and is our future financially secure and towns growing (outside of Darwin)?
Are our businesses sustainable and growing? Is this government supporting our Territory by using Territory businesses and ensuring Alice springs businesses win tenders over Darwin and interstate businesses?
These simple steps ensure our progress?
To operate the other way is to ensure our decline. And remember, governments are never elected – the other side is voted out.
Rules are rules.
Adam would be the first to point it that out when he was in Opposition.
The question of his government’s poor performance is a seperate matter.
The Chief needs to prove the allegations wrong or step aside. Simple.
I think you are nit-picking. If you look on the bright side he deserves a medal after the mess labor has got us in. Not many men would want this job.
We all can criticize, but can other people do better? You had your chance at the local elections to do better.
It is time we stand on our two feet and not rely on govmernment funding.
Nit-picking you say? I didn’t think [investigating this] was nit-picking I but I stand to be corrected.
[The question is, did] Chief Minister Giles use a car from his wife’s then workplace for two months at just $400 to help him with the campaign? I didn’t think that CEA was supposed to be politically aligned or get caught up with doing deals to help staffers’ partners. This is a huge issue, @Janet.
I admire your enthusiasm Bronte but you are still pretty naĂ¯ve. You see many organisation in Alice Springs that we call NON PROFIT. It generally means that they have to rely on government funding or they will cease to exist.
You see, Australia doesn’t have a huge philanthropic population so getting funds is extremely difficult, especially in this current moment, a time when people and organisations are going it tough because of the cuts and price hikes on items.
Don’t get me wrong, Janet, let’s look at what this Government is doing and what they are not doing.
It would appear that you have all forgotten what this government promised us when they came to power. You see, I don’t live “outta town” so I see first-hand at night that the anti-social behavior has not gotten better, the economy has not improved and won’t improve when you have a Chief Minister who openly states that the private sector needs to pull their heads in, and invest in our town. Has he forgotten that the government needs to invest as well to show confidence in our town?
I hope that the Electoral commission conducts a full investigation into the incident.
I think part of ITEC’s job was to help find employment opportunities for members of our community, so I guess they were just doing their job.
I hope the next time I’m looking for work the same service is offered to me.
It would be really handy and fun to have a flash Toyota to drive around in as I look for employment.