Kate Carnell
About
Introduction
Kate Carnell (born 1955) was the first woman to be elected as a Liberal Party State Premier, as well as the first woman Territory Chief Minister in Australian history.
She recieved a Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) from the University of Queensland in 1976. Ms. Carnell also moved to Canberra, ACT from Brisbane, QLD in 1976, and bought her own Pharmacy business in 1981.
She owned and managed the Red Hill Pharmacy in Canberra from 1981 through to 2002.
She served as ACT President, as well as National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild, as well as serving on the ACT Chamber of Commerce and on the boards of charities and community organisations.
Kate continued her work as a Pharmacist while she joined the Australian Liberal Party in 1991. She was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1992, and became leader of the ACT Opposition Party in 1993.
Her impressive resume also includes Chairman of the Canberra and Southern District Pharmacists Company Ltd (1982-1992), Vice-President of the Retail Industry and Training Council, Australian Capital Territory (1987-1991), Councillor at the Australian Institute of Pharmacy Management (1990-1991), Member of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Board of Health (1990-1991), Member of the Pharmacy Restructuring Authority (1990-1991) and Board member of the Canberra Chamber of Commerce (1991-1992).
The Canberra Liberal Party won Government of the Territory in 1995.
She held the portfolios of Minister for Health and Community Care (1995-1998), Minister Responsible for Multicultural and International Affairs (1995-2000), Minister for Business and Employment (1997-1998) and Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts (2000).
Ms Carnell was elected to the Board of Directors of the Australian National Roads and Motorists' Association. She subsequently lost a further election for the board, and was dropped as a Director.
Another popularly elected member of the board resigned their post after this, which resulted in an available position on the board, which Ms Carnell was again appointed to. It was anticipated that she would once again be dropped in a forthcoming election, resulting in her withdrawing from her position, in September 2002.
Controversies
Car Accident
Ms Carnell, known in the media as 'can-do Kate', due to her high aspirations and grand schemes for Canberra, experienced some controversy while in office.
In 1997, whilst returning to the ACT from a social function at a New South Wales winery, Ms Carnell lost control of her car, resulting in it rolling over, just outside of the ACT border.
She left the scene of the accident and was driven back to her office by a male companion. The New South Wales police attended the accident soon after she had left, but were unable to obtain a breathalyser reading due to her being outside of the New South Wales Police's jurisdiction.
Canberra Hospital Implosion
In a tragic event in July 1997, the Carnell Government was found indirectly responsible in a coroner's report in the death of Katie Bender, 12.
The coroner found in his report that The Carnell Government had turned the implosion of the Canberra Hospital into a Public Circus. The public was invited by the Government to attend and witness the event.
The Coroner found that the Government had been cavalier in its attitude to the warnings from a health union about the possible dangers of some aspects of the proposed implosion.
The Coroner summarised that, "the evidence on this topic leads me to conclude that Ms Carnell was poorly briefed and advised on this subject matter. The quality of the reply to the HSUA was sacrificed in the interests of speed and expediency."
Bruce Stadium Development
Ms Carnell eventually, in October 2000, faced with a no-confidence motion due to the blowout in costs of the Bruce Stadium development in Canberra, chose to resign her post.
The originally claimed cost to the taxpayer by Ms Carnell was $12.3 million, with an additional $15 million to be provided by private sector organisations, however the work eventually blew out to cost taxpayers $82 million.
In his report on the matter, Auditor-General Mr John Parkinson found that the estimated $27.3 million cost was estimated by Ms Carnell, and had not undergone any assessment, review or analysis. While Ms Carnell had factored in the $15 million in private funding for the project, no funds had been offered or provided by private companies.
The Auditor-General found that, by 1998, funding for the project was being sought so rapidly that funds that had not been allocated yet were being spent.
The ACT Auditor-General also found that an overnight loan provided by the Commonwealth Bank and signed for by Ms Carnell, for $9.7 million, was illegal.
The public was even more disheartened to find that, despite the massive budget breach of the Bruce Stadium development, the promised 3,600 covered seats promised were not provided, leaving only 1,600 covered seats.
Futsal
Ms Carnell also invested public funds into other ventures without result, including a V8 Supercar series in the streets of Canberra, an international Futsal field, and a Wedding Chapel.
The Futsal field which was built next to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge in Canberra City, the driveway to Parliament House of Australia, has never had a game of Futsal hosted on it. It is commonly used to stage circuses and travelling theatre shows.
V8 Supercar Series
$17 million of Canberra taxpayers' money was spent on the V8 Supercar series, in which five V8 Supercar races were to be staged on the roads around the Parliamentary Zone in Canberra. Despite the large investment and the disruption that this series caused to Canberran lives, the ACT Auditor-General found that many of the promises that the series offered, including international television interest and international tourists flocking to the event, never eventuated. The Auditor-General found that the event was not telecast in any international countries.
Despite forecasting that the race series would provide the ACT economy with $52 million profit, after only 3 races were staged, the Auditor-General found that the series had infact cost taxpayers $29 million. The Carnell Government had entered into an agreement with race organisers in which the ACT Government, and eventually ACT Taxpayers, would bare all responsibility for financial risk.
The succeding Labor party, on learning of the losses sustained by ACT Taxpayers from this event, cancelled the last 2 rounds of the series and settled with race organisers to keep the Australian Capital Territory Taxpayers from the burden of the losses which would be further incurred if the race series was to continue.
Wedding Chapel
Ms Carnell had also lobbied for the building of a mock wedding chapel, to attract foreign tourists, especially Japanese tourists, to perform western style remarraige ceremonies. These chapels already exist in Sydney and the Gold Coast, much more attractive destinations for tourists.
Post-Liberal Achievements
Since resigning her post as the Chief Minister for the ACT, Kate has held a position as a Director on the NRMA board of directors (2001-2002), as well as the Chief Executive of TransACT Development (2000-2001), and currently holds the positions of Chairperson, General Practice Education and Training Ltd and Executive Director, National Association of Forest Industries.
Ms Carnell is currently lobbying for a seat in the Australian Senate, hoping to take the place of Margaret Reid, the senator for the ACT, whom is expected to retire in the near future.
Referenced By
1995 in politics | Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
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