Insider Trading

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:38): I want to refer to some information from an interview between Mr Alan Kohler, a well-known commentator, and Mr John Sergeant, the managing director of KI Plantation Timbers in the Constant Investor on 31 July. It has been put to me that there are allegations of insider trading. The reason is that on 31 July this information came out, and it was some three days later before information was provided to the ASX. I do not believe that Mr Kohler did his homework on this. I believe he failed to check the claims made before the interview went any further.

I am given to understand that this matter has been reported to the ASX in relation to possible insider trading, which is a very serious matter, and that concerns me greatly. In his discussion with Mr Kohler, Mr Sergeant stated:

The biggest coup for KIPT is the approval to build a wharf which will allow their products to be sent to their customers in China and Japan. Plus, they [KIPT] have the cash on hand to pay for this capital investment.

He also went on to say that they would be able to recoup some of the costs from the wharf by allowing cruise ships to dock. There is no approval for that wharf whatsoever, so the statement by Mr Sergeant is blatantly untrue. There is no approval, and any approval is a long way off. It has major development status, and I have talked about that on a previous occasion.

In relation to the financial aspects of it, the cash is not on hand. They have a bank approval, which is of itself misleading. I have no doubt that Mr Sergeant and his company KIPT are anxious to boost their share price, but you cannot go out and make statements similar to this without backing them up. If you are misleading the stock exchange and misleading investors—and I will not be the one making the decision on this, but it has been reported to the ASX—I sincerely hope that they pick up on this and investigate the matter. It could be a matter for ASIC.

The way this company operates seemed unprofessional to me right from the start, and I am concerned that investors may well be damaged and lose their money. It is also alleged that our good old friend and stalwart of the Labor Party and lobbyist, Nick Bolkus, is involved somewhere in this murky deal. They are entitled to have a lobbyist, and I guess they would probably want a Labor lobbyist with there being a Labor government in South Australia. There are lots of claims that have been made by Mr Sergeant. Mr Kohler asked:

Can you explain the benefit of the wharf, the Smith Bay Wharf, to the company?

And Mr Sergeant replied:

Well, I'll do more than that. The benefit to the company is that it enables us to get our timber off the island…But they're also enormous benefits to the South Australian community because Kangaroo Island is the—the premier calls it the arrow head of South Australian tourism…

Mr Kohler then said, 'It allows cruise ships to dock then' if the wharf is put in. I think it is absolutely absurd. That is what was put to him, and he said:

Indeed it does. At the moment the cruise ships do visit in mid-Summer and try to get their passengers ashore in small boats. But if the weather is choppy, they just sail right on past. So, it should be a huge thing for Kangaroo Island tourism because it should enable year-round cruise ship visits.

What a load of codswallop! The cruise ship business does not operate in southern Australia over the winter for the very reason that the weather is foul. Anyone in their right mind knows that you would not take a cruise ship in to Kangaroo Island in the middle of winter, and the last couple of weeks have proven that.

Let me just say in relation to that matter that Tourism Kangaroo Island have never, ever discussed cruise ships going into Smith Bay. It has never been discussed by them, and they are the key organisations for tourism on the Island. So all in all, I want to find out whether these allegations of insider trading are correct. I want the ASX to investigate, and in the best interests of everyone, that needs to happen very quickly.