Australian official did not publicly disclose relative's link to Beetaloo
In Australia, Northern Territory Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Gerard Maley publicly supported a US$40 billion data centre project without publicly disclosing that his brother’s wife, Bethany Maley, works for Beetaloo Digital. This was reported by ABC News Australia.
On July 22, Maley jointly announced an agreement under which Beetaloo Digital received exclusive rights to 185 hectares of public land. Such an agreement gives the company time to seek investors and assess the viability of a hyperscale data centre project.
The minister’s and company’s position
Bethany Maley, a former journalist and public relations specialist, works at Beetaloo Digital in strategic engagement. Beetaloo Digital is a subsidiary of the gas company Beetaloo Energy.
Gerard Maley said he had made all required declarations in accordance with the code of conduct and ministerial guidelines. Asked to provide confirmation of where and how the declaration was made, his spokesperson said only that it had been done through the standard procedure. Beetaloo Energy confirmed Bethany Maley’s employment and said that all appropriate disclosures had been made.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Northern Territory disclosure law does not require Maley to list this connection in the public register of interests. At the same time, the code of conduct provides that ministers must declare conflicts between personal interests and public duties, including those involving close family members.
Calls for transparency
Centre for Public Integrity representative Anthony Whealy KC said that the lack of public disclosure could potentially undermine confidence in the data centre plans. In his view, for a project of this scale, a possible conflict of interest or appearance of bias should be fully and transparently disclosed at an early stage.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Gerard Maley and Bethany Maley are two of the three shareholders of Ammarula Pty Ltd. The third shareholder is the minister’s brother Peter Maley, Bethany Maley’s husband and a Darwin lawyer. In 2024, Gerard Maley declared his stake in Ammarula Pty Ltd. The minister’s spokesperson said the company owns a property at 17 Cavenagh Street in Darwin, where Peter Maley’s legal practice is located.
