Minister in 'secret' snow meeting with mogul

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy. Source: The Australian

• Minister meets billionaire Kerry Stokes in the USA
  
• Stokes owns Channel 7
  
• Later announced huge benefits for networks
  

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy held a secret meeting and went snow-skiing with Seven's billionaire owner Kerry Stokes at a ritzy American resort only weeks before handing over a $250 million gift to Australia's free-to-air TV networks.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that Senator Conroy - a skiing and snowboarding fanatic - met Mr Stokes in Vail, Colorado, in January, while the Government was considering pleas from the free-to-air industry to cut their licence fees.

Mr Stokes has purchased several properties in Vail's Beaver Creek, including a luxury $15.5 million penthouse.

The meeting came a month before the Victorian-based Senator Conroy cut licence fees paid by Seven, Ten and Nine for the next two years, depriving the Government of about $250 million in revenue.

The decision was controversial because Senator Conroy said it was to protect Australian content - but it included no binding requirement for the networks to spend the money on Australian content.

Both Mr Stokes and Senator Conroy refused to say what was discussed.

Mr Stokes, through a spokesman, said he had "thoroughly enjoyed" skiing with Senator Conroy.

Senator Conroy confirmed the secret meeting when questioned by the Sunday Herald Sun and said his conduct was "entirely appropriate." He did not mention the pair had gone skiing.

"Last month I visited Colorado on a personal holiday, which was fully paid for by me, including all airfares from Australia to Colorado," Senator Conroy said.

"On one day during this trip I visited Mr Stokes and returned to my accommodation that evening."

Senator Conroy said he regularly met with senior communications stakeholders to discuss matters relevant to his role as Minister for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy.

"These include Mr Stokes and senior representatives of his companies, John Hartigan (News Ltd chairman and CEO), Kim Williams (Foxtel CEO), John Porter (Austar CEO) and David Gyngell (Nine CEO).

"All of my conduct with Mr Stokes and his associates, and all other stakeholders in my portfolio, has been entirely appropriate," he said.

Senator Conroy said he also attended the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the West Coast Australian American Leadership Dialogue while he was in the US.

"I did not meet any representatives of Mr Stokes at either forum," he said.

Seven spokesman Simon Francis said: "Mr Stokes is enjoying his annual holiday at Beaver Creek in the United States, as he does every northern winter. It his own personal time and given that, we don't canvass how he enjoys his holidays.

"But, Mr Stokes says he thoroughly enjoyed his couple of ski runs with Senator Conroy."

Beaver Creek is an exclusive resort in the Colorado Rockies that has some of the finest skiing in America.

Mr Stokes, who owned a property there, made headlines in 2002 when he bought a sumptuous six-bedroom, six-bathroom penthouse for $15.5 million, smashing the previous property price records.

Senator Conroy would not answer questions on whether he'd accepted any hospitality from Mr Stokes.

"Any items that require disclosure will be disclosed under the rules of Parliament," he said.

On February 3, Senator Conroy updated his list of declarable interests, covering the month of January. It makes no mention of any matters involving Mr Stokes.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a previous recipient of Mr Stokes's hospitality, staying in Mr Stokes's mansion in Broome, WA, last year.

Senator Conroy announced on February 7 that free-to-air providers would pay $250 million less in licence fees over the next two years in order to protect Australian content.

But his decision contained no clause making it compulsory for the networks to spend the money producing Australian content, meaning the money will instead go directly to their bottom lines.

Pay-TV operators, including the biggest broadcaster, Foxtel (which is part-owned by News Ltd, publisher of the Sunday Herald Sun), were unhappy, accusing the Government of giving preferential treatment to the free-to-air operators.

Senator Conroy is already under pressure after recommending his mate, former Queensland Labor MP Mike Kaiser, should get a $450,000-a-year job with NBN Co, the government agency responsible for rolling out the Government's $43 billion national broadband network.

The Government is also under fire over revelations Environment Minister Peter Garrett had been warned 13 times about dangers in the Government's funding of housing insulation.

The flood of money spawned a rise in untrained operators, leading to a spate of house fires.