Motorola deal to supply South Australian radio response network from 1996 forces premier John Olsen to resign
The South Australian government contract for the Motorola company to supply equipment for the state's emergency services whole-of-government radio network prompted two judicial inquiries. The second, by Dean Clayton QC (bottom right), critiicsed evidence given by premier John Olsen (top right), his chief of staff Alex Kennedy (bottom centre right) and others.
The Motorola affair around the deal for the telecommunications company to supply equipment for the South Australian emergency services radio network led to South Australia premier John Olsen resigning in 2001.
The 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires in South Australia exposed the need to significantly improve the state's emergency services radio links with a whole-of-government network recommended. In 1993, consultants suggested Motorola technology as most suited for the government radio network.
The South Australian government received advice in April 1994 that Motorola had decided to establish the centre in Adelaide and a contract was signed in June by premier Dean Brown. In September, Olsen, as the government's industry minister, told parliament that there had been no discussion with Motorola over the government radio network contract and little more was heard on the matter until November 1996 when Olsen succeeded Dean Brown as premier.
On November 14, 1996, the Labor opposition claimed that the state government had spent $16 million to lure Motorola to South Australia. Eight days later, Motorola was announced as preferred supplier for the long-awaited government radio network, costed at $60 million. Later in parliament, Olsen said he didn’t discuss the government radio network contract with Motorola.
In 1998, it was alleged that, during the 1994 software centre deal, Olsen as industry minister promised Motorola preferential treatment for the government radio contract. This led to a judiciary inquiry by former chief magistrate Jim Cramond into the deal to investigate if Olsen had misled parliament over the contract.
In February 1999, it was revealed that the cost of the Motorola deal had more than quadrupled to $248 million. Two days later, the report from the inquiry prepared by former chief magistrate Jim Cramond cleared Olsen of any wrongdoing, saying there had been no side deal but Crammond found that Olsen had unintentionally misled parliament over the contract. A compounding factor of the Motorola deal for the government was having to introduce an emergency services levy on all homes, cars and boats to pay for the radio network cost blowout.
In 2001, Labor party opposition frontbencher Pat Conlon revealed leaked documents that he claimed were withheld from the Cramond inquiry. This led to suspicion that the documents from the inquiry were deliberately withheld. In March, Olsen appointed Dean Clayton QC to look into the 1998 inquiry. The Clayton Report found that comments Olsen made to Cramond were “misleading and inaccurate”, “dishonest” and had “no factual basis”.
Clayton also revealed there was a commitment to Motorola based on a letter not supplied to the Cramond inquiry and that “it is hard to accept that the minister who created the commitment was unaware of it”. Clayton says that Olsen’s former chief of staff, Alex Kennedy, submitted “misleading, inaccurate and dishonest evidence” and that despite their denials, Kennedy, then a consultant, and Olsen’s then senior press secretary and latertchief of staff, Vicki Thomson, had gone through Motorola documents stored in the premier and cabinet department days before the Cramond report was set up. The report also said former government adviser Alex Kennedy and the former head of his industry and trade department John Cambridge also "gave false evidence to the same inquiry".
Olsen fronted the media, saying the report that he set up was wrong and handed out copies of his own 48-page response: "It says amongst other things that I, in answers to Mr Cramond, was misleading, inaccurate and dishonest. I was not and I absolutely refute Mr Clayton's assertion. The report clearly indicates there are no criminal activities; no illegal activities".
Olsen again backed the Motorola deal but said he was "a political realist and for that reason I intend to offer my resignation to my party as premier of this state". He said he intended to seek further legal advice and continue to defend his integrity. Olsen was replaced as leader and premier by Rob Kerin on October 22, 2001.
