Federal Labor Party will consider banning donations from Crown after Bergin report

“Crown has been a donor in massive sums for years. It obviously opens doors and gets you access which you otherwise would not get.”

Geoffrey Watson, Centre for Public Integrity

“The fact they are donating most heavily in jurisdictions where they have casinos tells you it is related to some sort of benefit the company receives in respect to its operations,” said Geoffrey Watson SC, a director of the Centre for Public Integrity.

“Crown has been a donor in massive sums for years. It obviously opens doors and gets you access which you otherwise would not get.”

A NSW judicial review released on Tuesday found Crown was not fit to open a Sydney casino, stating there was “no doubt” money laundering involving an international drug-trafficking syndicate had occurred at its Melbourne casino.

Two representatives of James Packer, who owns 37 per cent of Crown, resigned from its board and a third ceased acting as a nominee on Wednesday after Commissioner Bergin highlighted the billionaire’s harmful influence over the company’s governance.

News Corporation reported on Thursday night Crown boss Ken Barton had agreed to resign following a meeting with chairman Helen Coonan. Crown did not respond to questions and Mr Barton could not be reached.

However, sources close to the company said Mr Barton had been in discussions with Ms Coonan about his future and expected his resignation would be imminent.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, which the government says may be reformed in light of the review, has instructed Crown to remove former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou as a board member.

Late on Thursday, Mr Demetriou advised Ms Coonan of his resignation from the Crown Resorts board, effectively immediately.

“This was not an easy decision and I have thought carefully about taking this step,” the former AFL boss said in a statement.

“I have always been a team player and supported the greater good. I will therefore step down from the Crown Resorts Board to give Crown the best possible chance of becoming suitable to the NSW Regulator.”

Asked whether the Victorian Labor Party should continue receiving Crown donations, an Andrews government spokeswoman said: “This is a matter for the party, however all donations are declared appropriately”.

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The NSW report states Crown contributed about $1.4 billion to the Victorian government’s revenue base since 2014. Premier Daniel Andrews has consistently emphasised the economic value of the casino, which is the largest single-site employer in Victoria.

Tony Robinson, Victorian government gaming minister between 2007-10, said the amount Crown had donated to parties was “inconsequential” relative to how much they spend during elections.

Mr Robinson has been highly critical of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation’s monitoring of Crown.

He predicted Crown would halt donations until it attempted to resurrect its brand, and said he never felt pressure to make policy decisions in Crown’s favour because of the donations his party received.

“I don’t think it had any influence on the way policy is made,” he said.

The federal Labor’s party secretariat said it would immediately “review” whether to continue taking money from Crown following the damning findings.

“Crown’s donations to federal Labor are under review,” Labor’s national secretary Paul Erickson said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese declined to comment on the review, with a spokesperson saying it was a matter for the party executive.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said major parties should go further than banning donations and return money they had already received. The Greens did not receive any donations from Crown at a federal level.

Crown has donated $303,000 to federal Coalition candidates in Victoria, compared to about $250,000 to Labor Party candidates.

The state opposition said this week that Mr Andrews was weak on policing Crown due to donations the company gave to Labor.

The federal and Victorian Liberal Party secretariats declined to comment on whether they would continue taking Crown donations. The Victorian Labor Party will wait on the results of the federal branch’s review of Crown’s donations before taking any action.

Crown has not donated directly to the state election campaign funds of either major party in Victorian since 2018. Before 2018, Victorian parties were not required to disclose how much they received in donations for state campaigns.

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Because of the way federal and state donations laws interacted before 2018, some of the Victorian parties’ donations declared to the VEC may have been used for state election campaigns.

Major parties in WA have said they will not take Crown donations before the state’s March election, as WA regulators review the findings of the NSW inquiry and potential implications for the company’s WA casino licence.

Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation chief Catherine Myers said on Thursday she would demand Mr Barton and high-profile director Andrew Demetriou explain why they should be allowed to be involved with the group’s flagship Melbourne casino after being heavily criticised in the NSW report.

That came hours after her NSW counterpart, Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority chair Philip Crawford, said that Crown needed to part ways with Mr Barton and the former AFL boss Mr Demetriou if it ever wanted to open its new casino at Barangaroo in Sydney.

Former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin’s report found that Mr Barton was “no match for what is needed at the helm of a casino” and called Mr Demetriou’s appearance at her public inquiry “unedifying”.

Ms Coonan said on Thursday that she accepted the criticism from the report was warranted and repeated “our unreserved apologies for these shortcomings”.

“We do not underestimate the scale of the problem and appreciate there is a need for ‘root and branch’ change,” she said. “This change has commenced.”

Crown was set to open the gaming floors at its Sydney casino in late December but the regulator blocked it from doing so after evidence of money laundering at Crown’s Melbourne and Perth casinos emerged in the Bergin inquiry.

The top five political donors at a federal level in the last financial year included Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy, Anthony Pratt’s Pratt Holdings, Woodside Energy, Macquarie Group and the Australian Hotels Association.

In 2018, the Victorian government introduced some of the strictest donation laws in the country that limit donors from contributing more than $4000 over a four-year term. Every donation over $1000 must be publicly disclosed.

Gambling companies cannot donate to NSW political parties, but they can donate to the NSW branches of political parties so long as the money is used to fund the federal election campaigns rather than state campaigns.

This is because federal laws, which do not prohibit gambling donations, apply to donations to federal campaigns. NSW caps donations at $6600 per year for each donor.

The federal Labor Party is advocating for a cap on donations for federal elections.

With Patrick Hatch