Queenslanders ‘jibbed’ by toothless casino review

“I’m flabbergasted,” said Costello, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform. “As a famous Queenslander once said: Premier, ‘please explain’.”

Palaszczuk’s office did not respond to questions about whether she had subsequently acquainted herself with the issue.

The Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation said it was investigating both north Queensland casinos.

While it would not confirm the nature of the probes, a spokeswoman said the first was launched into The Ville in February, while The Reef investigation began in March.

It shows the government knew of allegations in the two cities months before Fentiman announced that the inquiry’s terms of reference would focus solely on Star and the south-east corner.

“It’s not in the interest of transparency or good governance to behave this way,” Costello said.

“[The government’s] duty is, if they’re having an inquiry, to announce an inquiry with real teeth so the public can be better informed and reassured, because democracy dies in darkness.”

Lengthy commissions of inquiry into casinos in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne have revealed damning evidence of money laundering and criminal infiltration.

The most recent, into Star’s Sydney casino, included 36 online hearings and the testimonies of 30 witnesses. It was due to deliver its recommendations on Wednesday.

By comparison, the Queensland inquiry sat for only four public hearings and was finished hearing submissions within a week.

Costello, who did not believe this was sufficient time, said the spotlight and shame cast on the interstate casinos had pushed nefarious activities north.

“Queensland has flown under the radar. For whatever reason, the [underground] forces that are strong here in Melbourne and Sydney haven’t been that organised in Queensland, so they haven’t had any pressure put on them,” he said.

“The fact that the regulator sits under the Justice Department means that you wonder if there’s political interference. It’s hardly an at-arm’s-length, robust, thoroughly fearless independent regulator there. Queenslanders really have been jibbed.”

Among the allegations against Star in the Gotterson inquiry were that the casino disguised gambling funds from Chinese high rollers as room charges, and offered incentives to a suspected criminal banned from interstate casinos.

Star is currently building a new casino in the multibillion-dollar Queen’s Wharf Brisbane development. It is the subject of regular spruiking by the Palaszczuk government – which signed off on the secret deal in 2015 – because of the promised jobs and economic benefits.

But like The Ville and Reef, the development was excluded from the Gotterson review, despite the questionable international associations of Hong Kong-based consortium partner Chow Tai Fook.

The Queensland government has also refused to reveal how much the consortium paid for the 10 per cent of public CBD land the development would occupy.

Neither has it released a social impact study, business case, cost-benefit analysis, the terms relating to the 99-year lease, or any information as to the regular probity checks conducted by the Queensland regulator.

“The truth is, they cannot give reassurances there will be proper regulation unless [Queen’s] Wharf is also investigated,” Costello said.

“The problem here is that Queensland has half the casinos of all Australia. We have only one in Melbourne, and it was a thorough investigation.

“You’ve got four. [The inquiry] really has to be the whole box and dice.”