George Calombaris insists the underpayments were a mistake, and that almost all of those staff affected had been paid back. But on Monday, Tourism WA managing director Brodie Carr said the ads with Mr Calombaris had been suspended, although the campaign with MasterChef would continue. Mr Carr conceded Mr Calombaris' troubles with his restaurants "possibly" should have come up when he was considered for the tourism role. WA Tourism Minister Paul Papalia on Monday described Mr Calombaris' actions as terrible. A Tourism WA spokeswoman said Mr Calombaris was a small part of the campaign encouraging people to visit places featured on MasterChef.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 22, 2019 06:00 UTC