The Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, said that Crown Resorts’ election donations should no longer be accepted in the light of the latest report into the gambling giant that found it unsuitable to hold its Barangaroo casino licence.
The Premier did not call for a suspension of the company’s casino operating licence in Perth while the state’s independent gambling regulator reviewed the New South Wales (NSW) probe and added that he did not know if the gambling company made any donations to the Labor Party recently. This, in his opinion, was a matter for the party, but he insisted that no more donations from Crown Resorts should be accepted by political parties, considering the latest report’s findings.
According to political donation data that was officially announced earlier this month, Crown Resorts’ contribution to the Western Australia Labor Party amounted to AU$36,190 in 2019/2020. The Labor, the Liberal and the National Party in the state received overall donations worth AU$88,416 from the Australian gambling company in 2019/2020, the report said.
Crown’s contribution to the WA Liberals and Nationals in the past 13 years have totalled AU$650,738, while the WA Labor Party has received AU$384,010 in the same period.
Alleged Money Laundering in Melbourne and Perth Casinos Could Affect Crown’s Operations
As Casino Guardian reported, in July 2019, a number of local media hubs raised concerns about alleged money laundering happening in the Melbourne and Perth casino venues of Crown Resorts. In 2020, the gambling giant admitted to the inquiry that money laundering was likely to have occurred at the aforementioned venues.
Now, some political figures have started vocalising their concerns and called for the casino giant’s political donations to be stopped. The leader and gambling spokeswoman of the WA Greens – Alison Xamon – shared that Labor and Liberal parties should stop taking contributions from gambling businesses as a whole. As explained by Ms Xamon, politicians must represent the interests of the local communities and not the ones of their “billionaire corporate donors”. She further added that the activities of Crown Resorts in Western Australia were a significant part of the reasons why the casino company has been found unfit to operate its new Barangaroo casino in Sydney.
After the NSW report was revealed yesterday, Tim Picton, the Labor secretary of Western Australia, said that all donations received by the party were made public in line with the state’s legislative requirements and could be accessed on public registers. The secretary of the Liberal party, Sam Calabrese, also said that his party was in line with all legislative and regulatory rules regarding political donation disclosure.
For the time being, it remains unclear whether the major political parties in the state would start rejecting any potential donations from Crown Resorts.
- Author
Daniel Williams
