While Mark Parton's suggestion the Barr Government could be in cahoots with the Tradies in a bid to facilitate a takeover of the unfinished Canberra Casino seems far fetched, ACT Labor has only itself to blame for creating an environment in which such notions can flourish.
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Given the surreal way decisions about licenced clubs, poker machine numbers and the development of the casino have unfolded almost anything seems possible.
The Government left the door ajar for the Liberals' latest conspiracy theory by the peculiar way in which it drafted its long-awaited casino legislation.
While Aquis Entertainment had promised to incorporate a high end hotel, restaurant and retail complex into its $300 million casino plan in exchange for the right to operate up to 200 poker machines and 60 fully automated table games this has not been written into the bill.
Instead the developers are only committed to carrying out a "prescribed stage of development" to be specified by the minister. That, according to the bill's critics, may ultimately include only a small part of what Aquis had promised.
In addition to allowing the casino's owners to buy up poker machine authorisations and operate new automated gaming tables the bill does commit the operators to a $2 spin limit, a mandatory pre-commitment scheme and to forfeiting one in three of every poker machine authorisations that they buy.
The trouble, according to Mr Parton, the Liberals' gaming spokesman, is that the bill, which was introduced into the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, is not specific to Aquis.
Or, in the worlds of ACT Gaming Minister, Gordon Ramsay: "The legislation is not about Aquis, the legislation is not about that particular proposal".
That, according to Mr Parton, leaves the way clear for the development to be sold on before it is completed; possibly to an organisation aligned to ACT Labor.
"It's not the casino; this is Tradies in the city," he said.
The argument is that if the Tradies were to relocate their Dickson club to the casino site it would substantially increase the amount of land they could open up as part of their Dickson carpark development.
It might then, subject to the gaming minister's discretion, be able to operate the casino site as a new Tradies without any hotel, high end restaurant or retail element.
While there is no evidence to suggest such a scheme actually does exist with Tradies Group chairman and CFMEU secretary, Dean Hall, categorically denying any plan for the club to buy the casino, this line of speculation could have been easily avoided.
Why the Barr Government chose not to spell out the nature and extent of the development needed in order to obtain the machine licences and to make the legislation specific to Aquis Entertainment is a mystery to all but its own members.
