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An Integrity Commission report was tabled in the Tasmanian Parliament today on an investigation into misconduct allegations relating to former Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Trade and subsequent Minister for Mining, Mr Adam Brooks MP. The investigation arose from a complaint submitted in 2016 by the then Leader of the Opposition, Bryan Green.

The investigation has identified no evidence to support the allegations that Mr Brooks misused information or obtained an advantage for his private business, Maintenance System Solutions, in his public roles.  In addition, the report says Mr Brooks had no material conflict of interest in relation to his interest in Maintenance System Solutions, and consequently had not breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct.

However, the investigation found that Mr Brooks had ongoing involvement in the operation and management of Maintenance System Solutions while a Minister. As a result, he had not complied with a protocol established by the Premier to address Mr Brooks’ conflict of interest issues, and Mr Brooks had failed to accurately inform the Premier about the true nature of his involvement in the business.

The evidence showed that Mr Brooks deleted a number of Maintenance System Solutions emails in the evening of 9 June 2016 without advising the Premier or the Crown Solicitor that he had done so.

It was found that Mr Brooks had removed the emails due to genuine concerns about his family’s privacy, his ongoing marital proceedings and the protection of private business information; however Mr Brooks was also motivated by concern that the emails had potential to cause him political damage.

The investigation report indicates that Mr Brooks’ answers to questions on potential conflict of interest in Budget Estimates Committee hearings in June 2016 were outside the jurisdiction of the Integrity Commission Act 2009.

The Board of the Commission has determined to refer the matter to the Premier for action.

Allegations by Mr Green that the Premier had failed to properly manage Mr Brooks’ conflict of interest or facilitated a purposefully inadequate response to Maintenance System Solutions email-related conflict of interest issues were dismissed prior to the investigation.

Media contact:
Michael Easton
Manager Operations
michael.easton@integrity.tas.gov.au
1300 720 289