Corruption call fuels ugly row over historic racecourse

Premier Chris Minns says allegations of corruption are based purely on "rumour and fearmongering". Video by AAP

Transcript

00:00I'm happy to take questions.

00:01Have you been engaged in corrupt conduct?

00:03Absolutely not. I can say that, of course I can say that.

00:07And I think the suggestion, to try out the suggestion,

00:11must be manned with some kind of credible evidence

00:15rather than rumour or fear-mongering.

00:17What we've seen in politics for a long time,

00:20but certainly in relation to this report,

00:22is to, A, discredit the idea,

00:25B, go after the participants,

00:27C, hurl mud at the politicians,

00:30and if all of that doesn't work,

00:32allege corruption at the very end

00:34if you don't get any information and you don't get any evidence.

00:37All of you have been witnesses to the parliamentary inquiry.

00:41If there was a shred of information

00:43that had been collected by that inquiry,

00:45it would have been discovered before today.

00:47The reason it hasn't been,

00:49and the reason this committee, in a politicised way,

00:52referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption,

00:54is precisely because they don't have those facts laid.