Commissioner Finkelstein, who will decide by October 15 whether Crown can keep its Southbank license, was not convinced. He compared the James Packer-backed group, which is keeping their license, to a car thief asking to be released and trusting him to do the right thing.
Helen Coonan will be leaving Crown later this month. Louie Douvis
“Pay unpaid taxes, pay some costs, but suffer no consequences, i. E. Don’t worry, ‘”he said.
“When I look at the public interest, if I were a car thief and went to the criminal court and said, ‘I’m not going to steal a car anymore, don’t worry, take my word for it and just … let me go.’
“That’s not how the system works, does it? Not only is it not how the system works, it is not what the public is expecting. “
He said that keeping the license under the supervision of a monitor or losing the license but regaining it in two years – both proposals from Crown – are “risk-free options” with “no real consequences for wrongdoing.”
Crown rejected the proposal, saying that a number of former Crown executives and shareholders had already suffered the consequences of their wrongdoing and that punishment was not the job of a royal commission.
“We claim that your job is neither a punishment nor a deterrent. Your job is to find the best solution in the public interest and to look ahead, ”said Borsky.
Noel Hutley, SC, who represents Mr. Packers Consolidated Press Holdings, which owns 37 percent of the company, added that “punishment is not a matter” for the royal commissions.
“Punishment is not a feature of the public interest that is at stake here, but rather the future” [of] Casino operations in this state, ”he said.
“It is easy to translate this into a perceived need for removal based on legitimate concerns about what happened, which our respectful submission would not serve the public interest unless we are satisfied that Crown is irrecoverable punish.”
Mr Borsky also argued that there was no evidence the Commissioner could rely on to determine that Mr Walsh and Ms Coonan were unsuitable Crown employees, which directly contradicts the Adviser’s negative recommendation.
The assistant to the legal advisor argued that the duo’s role in failing to report the underpayment of Crown’s gambling tax – known as the “jackpot tax problem” – to the royal commission was a cause for an inappropriateness finding, as Ms. Coonan had not done enough despite being asked to to investigate the problem, Mr Walsh, to bring it to the Commission.
Mr Borsky said the commission should not take action against Mr Walsh as he was integrity on 20 “.
Jobs not endangered
Commissioner Finkelstein rejected the key arguments put forward by Crown that if their license were revoked, Victoria’s economy would be affected and up to 20,000 employees would lose their jobs.
He accepted that there would be “relocations” if a new casino operator was named after an open tender for the license, but stressed that the only casino in the state was a highly profitable company that would continue to pay taxes and employ Victorians no matter who ran it.
“So I don’t treat the endangered employees. I don’t deal with contractors at risk, there may be shifts, but I don’t really see them at risk, except at the margins, ”he said.
“The choice could be whether you run the casino or someone else runs the casino.
“When it’s a profitable business, the industry works in such a way that someone always steps in.”
Divide assets
The former judge also put down the casino giant’s proposals that its sprawling Southbank buildings would be wasted if it were to lose his license.
He said he was “really bad with certificates of ownership and crown awards,” but his understanding of the leases for the Crown site meant the premises could be used by another casino operator.
Revealing how much he’s investigated into enforcing a split of Crown Resorts’ shops in Melbourne, he said the title search indicated that “both the casino and the hotel and the shops and everything between the river and the street … government country is “. which means Crown could be directed to abandon its leases or sublet the property.
He is “pretty sure” that only “the parking lot and a few hotels across the street” are not a government country.
Mr. Borsky said Crown would provide a brief written response on the Southbank property titles and information about the government’s “legal and contractual” right to force the company to sublet.
New watchdog
In an announcement made just 30 minutes before the closing requests began on Tuesday, the Andrews government announced that it would set up a standalone gambling watchdog.
Gambling Minister Melissa Horne described the decision to combine industry regulation with that of spirits as a “failed experiment” and said the move followed a recommendation of a review launched at the same time as the royal commission.
The new structure will have dedicated casino and gaming arms and “a strong focus on harm reduction” as well as lower risk of “regulatory coverage” than the current combined alcohol and gaming watchdog.
She defended the timing of the announcement, saying it had to precede the final report of the royal commission so that “when we have the results we will launch a legislative program as this will require significant legislative changes”.
The gambling regulator will ultimately decide, based on the results of the royal commission, whether Crown will keep its license or not under the Casino Control Act.
“Crown should not be denied the right to have their claims handled under the rule of law,” he said, citing the need for a disciplinary process with a review mechanism.
The VCGLR argued that if the Commission recommends a rejection, it – or its successor – should not have to go through such a procedure, citing the inefficiency and cost of re-clarifying the issues raised in the current investigation.
Crown shares rose 1.68 percent to $ 9.01 on Tuesday and have fallen 30.94 percent since the Victorian Royal Commission hearings began in mid-May.