ready to defect

Vanuatu

Minister says he’s ready to defect

POSTS and Telecommunication Minister Cecil Sinker has said he was ready to defect from his National United Party (NUP) to join the ruling Union of Moderate Parties (UMP), national radio reports said here.

Sinker, who is currently a dissident member of parliament for former prime minister Walter Lini’s NUP, was quoted as saying he would perform a “custom” (traditional) ceremony to mark the event shortly. Lini’s NUP , the junior partner in the Vanuatu Government, split into two factions when he announced last August he had decided to split from the government coalition formed in December 1991 with UMP.

However, three NUP MPs, deputy Prime Minister Sethy Regenvanu, Sinker and Minister of Health Edward Tabisari, remained in their ministerial posts in the government led by Prime Minister Maxime Carlot. Lini now heads a group of seven MPs in parliament, under a so-called “independent

opposition” label.

VITAB dealings forces

Aust minister to quit

THE dealings of a Vanuatu-based betting company, VITAB, has forced the resignation of the deputy chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory, Wayne Berry. This followed a vote of no-confidence in him over his handling of a contract with the Vanuatu-based agency VITAB.

In a debate lasting about nine hours, the opposition argued that Berry had repeatedly and systematically misled the ACT parliament in statements he made over the past five months.

Opposition leader Kate Garnell said Berry had claimed VITAB was an Australian-owned and operated public company, which it is not. And he had mis-stated VITAB’s directors. Also, he had falsely claimed that the bona fides of VITAB’s directors and shareholders had been checked.

Carnell said it had been incorrect for Berry to claim that the Cannberra-based betting agency ACTTAB had won a contract with VITAB in competition with other Australian betting agencies. The opposition claimed that Berry had concealed information about the ACTAB’s expulsion from the Victorian super betting pool because of its links with VITAB.Three cross benchers joined the opposition to support the no-confidence motion 9-8.