$100,000 prize for whoever cracks the Seasprite story.
From today's edition of crikey.com.au
$100,000 prize for whoever cracks the Seasprite story. Gary Johnston, Sydney businessman and owner of electronics chain Jaycar, thinks $50,000 is not enough of an incentive for journalists to look into the bungled Seasprite helicopter deal. That
was the reward being offered by entrepreneur Dick Smith for the best investigative story covering the issue – as reported in
The Age. Crikey can now reveal that Johnston has decided to add $50,000 to make the reward a substantial $100,000. Johnston told Crikey today he wants to make "all those so-called bureaucrats who make dopey decisions" accountable for their actions. The Government spent over $1 billion on the deal over eleven years before cancelling the contract this year. None of the helicopters were delivered. The project constantly ran into trouble, passing between different contractors and running well behind schedule. Defence insiders were critical of the deal, suggesting the Seasprite helicopters were the wrong choice to begin with and that other models would have been far more useful. "No one's going to get the blame for it. If they worked for a corporation they'd get fired, but these people have probably been promoted," says Johnston. The winner of the competition will be decided by a panel of three judges chosen by Smith.