Premier

One Year Later: Questions Matthew Guy Still Needs To Answer About Lobster With Mobster Scandal

07 August 2018

One year after Matthew Guy was caught eating lobster and drinking grange with alleged mobsters, he still refuses to answer basic questions about this scandal.

Twelve months on, it’s time he came clean about what actually happened at the Lobster Cave, and what promises he made to alleged mafia bosses in exchange for Liberal Party donations.

Victorians have a right to know what happened, and what dirty deals were done.

  1. Who chose the venue?
  2. Who organised the guest list?
  3. How many people attended – was it 20, 12, or seven?
  4. Who paid for the food and wine?
  5. What was discussed at the dinner?
  6. Was any potential rezoning of farmland in Melbourne’s south east discussed?
  7. Did Mr Guy make any promises about Liberal Party policy?
  8. Mr Guy said he didn’t drink any of the luxury Penfold Grange wine on offer, but then he admitted he “had a sip”. What else about his story has changed?
  9. Mr Guy said Frank Lamattina organised the lobster dinner, but President of the Victorian Liberal Party, Michael Kroger, said it was Barrie Macmillan. Who is correct?
  10. Mr Guy said he “realise[d] the potential ramifications of it [the dinner] as soon as I got in my car.” Why didn’t he immediately alert authorities or refer the dinner to IBAC?
  11. Mr Guy agreed to release all correspondence and other records about this affair to IBAC, why has he still kept these from the public?
  12. Does Mr Guy stand by his claim that, “there have been no donations from any of those people, certainly in my time as leader, in fact in my time as Planning Minister I understand as well”?
  13. If so, can Mr Guy explain why Mr Kroger is reported as saying, “no disclosable donations have been made from any of these (people) since Matthew Guy has been in parliament”?
  14. When will Mr Guy instruct the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party to release its list of donations to ensure no donations have been received from Mr Madafferi or any other people with alleged links to organised crime?
  15. Given Mr Guy stated at the time that IBAC “can have whatever they want”, why has he still not released all documents relating to the Fishermans Bend rezoning scandal, where Liberal donors made huge windfalls as a result of Mr Guy’s planning decision?
  16. Given Mr Guy claimed he “broke no laws” with regard to this scandal, when will he make the same claim about his role in the Ventnor scandal?

Quotes attributable to Deputy Premier James Merlino

“One year later, this still stinks.”

“Matthew Guy will do anything to line the pockets of the Liberal Party with money, whether that’s cosying up to alleged criminals or doing the bidding of big corporations.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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