The second week of hearings in the Bell Two inquiry into the suitability of Star Entertainment to hold its Star Sydney license featured testimony from current Chairman David Foster and former CEO Robbie Cooke, both of whom were questioned by prosecuting attorney Casper Conde.
Foster was first April 23, when he was asked by Conde about text messages he sent to Cooke expressing a desire to “abolish” the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) in order to “level the playing field” with the state’s bars and clubs, according to Inside Asian Gaming.
In response, he clarified that he was not expressing a direct desire to get rid of the NICC, but rather was voicing his frustration about how many of the regulations that the company operates under do not apply to clubs.
“In that particular context, and I’ve had this conversation with (NICC Chief Commissioner) Philip Crawford directly, it was about an uneven playing field that existed and still does exist in NSW relative to the casinos and clubs,” he said, per IAG.
Foster added that he has since suggested to Crawford that “a good outcome would be for the Commission, under a different name possibly, to oversee the club operations as well as the casinos to ensure an even playing field.”
The chairman’s testimony followed the explosive revelation from the first set of hearings that he had talked with Cooke about having to “go to war” with the NICC and Manager Nicholas Weeks, who has been in charge of overseeing Star Sydney’s remediation efforts.
Cooke stepped down as CEO March 22, and remained in an advisory role until that too was terminated April 18 in the midst of the inquiry hearings, Foster confirmed.
Speaking of Cooke, he was next to testify April 24, with most of Conde’s questions revolving around the former CEO’s relationship with Weeks and the NICC and how it became increasingly more hostile over time.
Last December, Weeks presented a progress report to the NICC on Star Sydney’s remediation progress that was lukewarm, pointing out multiple deficiencies in the casino’s efforts up to that point.
Cooke responded in a confrontational manner by refuting many of Week’s claims, but he noted during the inquiry hearing that he knew the response would ruffle some feathers.
He defended his pushback by saying that he felt the relationship between Star and the NICC had become “a one-way street,” and that he had tried to respond “in a way which indicated we were doing it respectfully and trying to ensure that where there were matters that we didn’t agree with or that were contentious, that we did so in a clinical way rather than an emotive way,” per IAG.
Cooke went on to say that in his experience working in “regulated industries,” sometimes relationships with regulators are not always cheery, and sometimes disagreement is natural.
The comments between him and Foster about going to war with Weeks and the NICC were also discussed, to which Cooke said that he may have been a little too emotionally charged. But he did acknowledge that he “felt that we were under some form of attack,” according to the Australian Financial Review.
When asked about the conversation he and Foster had about potentially bringing legal action against the regulator, Cooke denied following through with it, but was adamant that the question was not altogether out of line.
“I don’t accept it was entirely inappropriate if my chairman asked me to look at something … but I don’t think it was a good idea,” he said, per the AFR.
