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August 6th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
The Foreign Affairs Minister and former NSW Premier Bob Carr says he does not ‘remotely’ accept any responsibility for the creation of now disgraced former minister Eddie Obeid.
Speaking at a forum in Sydney, Mr Carr has been questioned about last week’s official corruption finding by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), against Mr Obeid and fellow former state ALP minister Ian Macdonald.
The ICAC inquiry heard Mr Macdonald granted the lucrative Mount Penny coal mining lease over land owned by the Obeid family, and that the Obeids encouraged their friends to buy up land in the area and secretly hid their involvement in mining projects though complex company structures.
Senator Carr says the Labor caucus decided to appoint Mr Obeid to the ministry, a move he had to respect and and accept, though he later moved against him and had him removed.
He says there were no allegations sustained against Mr Obeid while he was Premier.
“If they did I would have had him ritually executed on the grounds of government house! No errant minister was going to hurt me or my government,” he said.
“I maintained the very strictest standards, and after he’d been there, and he had support in the parliamentary party. But at that time there was no mark against him on probity grounds.”
Senator Carr says he used his authority in 2003 to move against Mr Obeid.
“I said ‘No, we want new talent in the Cabinet, you’ve had four years there. I want you to step down’.”
The former Premier says that after he insisted on Mr Obeid leaving the ministry, ‘and moved heaven and earth to see that was enforced’, he should not have been able to stand again for the Upper House.
He says that was a mistake that was made by the party machine.
“Instead of saying ‘we really require you to step down at the next election’, they put him on the ticket,” he said.
“And in the 2007 state election, he sailed back into the Upper House. I was out of it by then, I’d retired in 2005 after getting him out of the ministry in 2003.”
“But the machine should have told him ‘You’ve had your day, you move on’.”
Senator Carr says the corruption allegations proven against Mr Obeid took place after he stepped down as Premier.
“If he’d been surgically excised from the State Parliamentary Labor Party..if the machine had followed the lead I gave them by getting him out of the cabinet..the party would have saved itself a great deal of discredit.”
There have been calls for charges to be laid against Mr Obeid and Ian Macdonald after the Independent Commission Against Corruption findings.
The cases have been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Topics:
government-and-politics,
state-parliament,
collusion,
alp,
sydney-2000
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-06/bob-carr-says-he-is-not-responsible-for-27creating27-eddie-ob/4869154
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