Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House of Representatives calls on the Australian Government to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into and report on the Australian casino industry, with particular reference to:

(1) allegations of Crown Casino's links to organised domestic and foreign crime, money laundering, tampering with poker machines, domestic violence and drug trafficking, including but not limited to:

  (a) the allegations concerning Crown, raised by the Member for Denison in the House of Representatives on 18 October 2017;

  (b) the Member for Clark's referral of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, and Victoria Police, to the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission on 24 July 2019;

  (c) reports by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes in July 2019 concerning alleged criminal activity involving Crown;

  (d) the Member for Clark's referral of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation to the Victorian Ombudsman on 13 August 2019;

  (e) the Member for Clark's referral of Crown Perth to the Premier of Western Australia on 19 September 2019;

  (f) the allegations of criminal activity provided by a driver formerly associated with Crown revealed by the Member for Clark in the House of Representatives on 30 July 2019, and again during a media event yesterday, including the failure to process inbound and outbound flights and passengers;

  (g) the evidence of money laundering at Crown revealed by the ABC and the Member for Clark today;

  (h) the response to these allegations, including the possibility of criminality, by relevant state and federal agencies including but not limited to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police, Border Force and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre;

  (i) the conduct of people associated directly with Crown, including the possibility of criminality and corruption; and

  (j) the conduct of serving and former politicians and party officials especially relevant to Crown, including the possibility of criminality or corruption.

(2) the performance of relevant federal agencies regarding the operation of Australian casinos generally including but not limited to the Australian Federal Police, Border Force and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

(3) the conduct of Australian casino owners, board members and staff generally;

(4) the conduct of serving and former politicians and party officials regarding Australian casinos generally; and

(5) any related matters.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Clark from moving the following motion immediately—

That the House of Representatives calls on the Australian Government to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into and report on the Australian casino industry, with particular reference to:

(1) allegations of Crown Casino's links to organised domestic and foreign crime, money laundering, tampering with poker machines, domestic violence and drug trafficking, including but not limited to:

  (a) the allegations concerning Crown, raised by the Member for Denison in the House of Representatives on 18 October 2017;

  (b) the Member for Clark's referral of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, and Victoria Police, to the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission on 24 July 2019;

  (c) reports by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes in July 2019 concerning alleged criminal activity involving Crown;

  (d) the Member for Clark's referral of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation to the Victorian Ombudsman on 13 August 2019;

  (e) the Member for Clark's referral of Crown Perth to the Premier of Western Australia on 19 September 2019;

  (f) the allegations of criminal activity provided by a driver formerly associated with Crown revealed by the Member for Clark in the House of Representatives on 30 July 2019, and again during a media event yesterday, including the failure to process inbound and outbound flights and passengers;

  (g) the evidence of money laundering at Crown revealed by the ABC and the Member for Clark today;

  (h) the response to these allegations, including the possibility of criminality, by relevant state and federal agencies including but not limited to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police, Border Force and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre;

  (i) the conduct of people associated directly with Crown, including the possibility of criminality and corruption; and

  (j) the conduct of serving and former politicians and party officials especially relevant to Crown, including the possibility of criminality or corruption.

(2) the performance of relevant federal agencies regarding the operation of Australian casinos generally including but not limited to the Australian Federal Police, Border Force and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

(3) the conduct of Australian casino owners, board members and staff generally;

(4) the conduct of serving and former politicians and party officials regarding Australian casinos generally; and

(5) any related matters.

There is an urgent need to debate this motion and for this parliament to decide whether or not the government should be obliged to establish a royal commission into Crown. I find it remarkable that the government has denied leave for this matter to be properly explored. I would have thought it would be in the government's very best interests to have a debate about this motion and establish a royal commission, as this motion would oblige.

This morning, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and I both released extraordinary vision of serious criminal activity inside Melbourne's Crown casino. In isolation, the vision this morning of brazen money laundering inside the Suncity junket room at Crown in Melbourne is truly shocking. But in its political context it's even more disturbing. There's an urgent need to suspend standing orders and address this. The ABC and I only possess this vision because a number of Victorian government gambling investigators decided they had had enough of all the lies and cover-ups. These investigators say they've been forced to watch on as crimes are routinely committed inside Crown, only for Crown to then publicly deny everything. There is an urgent need for this parliament to now act. Speaking of watching on and those Crown inspectors, it's important to point out that the vision released this morning was filmed by Crown's own security cameras. So don't believe anyone at Crown when they say they don't know what's going on.

Speaker, you'd recall that in 2017, in this very place, I revealed evidence of poker machine tampering and other serious offences at Crown. In response, Crown took out full-page ads to lie to the Australian people and to financial markets, claiming they'd done no wrong. But, while Crown's response was dishonest, the response from the major parties was pathetic. To the amazement of the Australian people, Labor and the coalition continued to run their protection racket for Crown and chose not to investigate the claims; hence there is an urgent need to investigate the claims now.

Of course, in time Crown were found guilty by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation of machine tampering, proving that Crown had lied when they claimed they hadn't tampered with their poker machines. Since then we have had whistleblowers and many more allegations, including recently when the Nine group produced their extraordinary series in their newspapers and on 60 Minutes highlighting the international crime networks that treat Melbourne's Crown casino like a lawless washing machine for unexplained fortunes. But again Crown denied everything and once again bought full-page ads in newspapers around the country, proving that the company has more money than sense, or, perhaps more accurately, more money than any sense of decency.

At the same time as those ads appeared, the major parties kidded themselves again into believing that, if they only waited long enough, the public would get bored and move on. But the public didn't get bored and they haven't moved on—and neither have the whistleblowers. In fact, that list of whistleblowers has grown to include the Crown Casino driver who came forward to provide firsthand evidence, which I, along with the Reason Party's Fiona Patten MLC, released yesterday. This driver provided firsthand accounts of foreign nationals illegally entering the country, as well as allegations of widespread drug use, domestic violence and illegal prostitution. But, faced with these new allegations, Crown lied again yesterday, with a Crown spokesman saying: 'Crown rejects all these claims. If anyone has any allegation or evidence of unlawful conduct, then they should contact the relevant authorities.'

So who are these 'relevant authorities'? Well, Victoria Police for one, but, as the driver says in the video, Victoria Police routinely fail to enforce Victoria's laws inside the casino. The other relevant authority is the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, and, as all of Australia now knows, not even the VCGLR's own inspectors trust the VCGLR to investigate the crimes of Crown. If anyone has any doubt about that fact—about the VCGLR's failure to investigate—we've now got the pictures today to prove it, and they're up on the ABC and on my website. As for the chairman of the VCGLR, here is what Mr Ross Kennedy confidently told The Age about his organisation over the weekend:

The VCGLR … emphatically rejects the unfounded attacks on its competency and any suggestion it is 'not doing its job …

Perhaps Mr Kennedy should talk to his own inspectors, who have risked so much professionally and personally in order to inform the Australian people that the VCGLR is absolutely not doing its job.

Make no mistake: today's vote on suspending standing orders in the first instance is not just about one casino in one Australian city; it's a vote about corruption and criminality that no-one can deny any longer. I say to the members of Labor and the coalition: there are only two possible explanations for what has happened so far. The first explanation is that you've known all along about these crimes at Crown but you didn't care. If that's true, then that is truly shameful. The second explanation is that you didn't know about any of it, and, if that is the case, there is only one way you can vote on suspending standing orders in the first instance, and that is in favour of suspending standing orders and then in favour of a royal commission into Australia's gambling industry.

Make no mistake: if anyone in this House votes no, the Australian people will see us as a part of the problem and not a part of the solution. It will be all the proof that the Australian people need, to know for sure that the major parties secretly approve of these appalling crimes and this appalling corruption.

Crown isn't just Melbourne's casino. It's also Prime Minister Scott Morrison's casino, as all this has happened under his watch and the watch of his political party. This is also opposition leader Anthony Albanese's casino, as Labor hasn't exactly covered itself in glory today either. It's Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews's casino, as he has long had the power to step in and clean up Crown but to date has failed to do so. And then we have the politicians who have traded their lives in politics for a cushy life funded by Crown—their pay packets, we now know, indirectly funded by crime—like former Liberal senator Helen Coonan. It's also former Labor senator Stephen Conroy's casino. It's former Labor operative Karl Bitar's casino. And, if you want to go back a little, you'd have to conclude that this is also Jeff Kennett's casino.

I've been asked on a number of occasions why I have pursued this matter—why an Independent from Hobart is so concerned about a casino in Melbourne. Well, it's not just because many of my constituents visit Crown when they visit the mainland, though that is an important factor. More important is how the crisis at Crown reflects a deep crisis in our democracy and how, for years now, politicians from the major parties have allowed Crown to corrupt our political system.

I ask: how can the Australian people trust any of us to make laws if we allow laws to be broken over and over again with no consequences for Crown? How can the Australian people have faith in our Border Force when our borders are so easily ignored by Crown? How can the Australian people have faith in the Australian Federal Police when they seem to treat crimes differently when they're committed in or by Crown? How can the Australian people have faith in Victoria Police when serving Victorian police officers refer to Crown as 'the Vatican'? And how can the Australian people have faith in us politicians if any of us vote against this royal commission and, in doing so, allow the criminal crisis of Crown to continue?

This is not about shutting Crown down. This is about cleaning Crown up. There is an urgent need to suspend standing orders, and I implore each and every politician in this parliament to vote today to suspend standing orders and then to vote in favour of a royal commission into the Australian casino industry.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Clark's time has concluded. Is the motion moved by the member for Clark seconded? I call the member for Mayo.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. What more will it take for this place to act? It was not that long ago, just July this year, that we were all aghast—or, I may say, people outside of this chamber were aghast—at the 60 Minutes footage of Crown casino and the gambling industry and the very real and very disturbing allegations of money laundering, sex trafficking, junkets and money being washed through our casinos. Now we have seen, released by a very brave whistleblower, actual video footage from inside Crown itself. This video was provided by casino inspectors who worked inside Crown and who have gone public because they believe that the Australian people should see this, that the Australian people should see what is happening inside Crown. But this is beyond Crown. This is the gambling industry. They needed to show the Australian community, and they want this place to act. If you have not seen the video, another Aldi bag full of cash goes into the casino and wads of money, $100 bills in big wads, at least $10,000 per packet, go onto the table and come back as chips, and then everyone involved gets their share.

We can't allow that to happen in Australia. We can't allow this to continue. This is not just about Crown. This is why I support the member for Clark's motion here. He's correct. He is a member from Tasmania. I'm a member from South Australia. This is not just a Victorian issue. This is not just a Melbourne issue. This is entirely about border security, an area of government that the Australian taxpayer spends a huge amount of money on. Yet we are making a mockery of the good work that border security does when we allow this kind of corruption to occur. This is about public safety. If you oppose crime, if you oppose drug addiction, if you think that domestic violence and human trafficking are wrong, if you oppose the fact that we don't even know where this money is from—it could be it was from heroin dealers; we have no idea, but that money is washing through Crown casino and we have footage of it—we must act in this place.

As I said, just a few months ago everybody was aghast at the 60 Minutes expose on Crown casino. Yet, the following day, the opposition did not ask one single question about it of government in question time. Now they have an opportunity to redeem themselves. Now they have an opportunity to do the right thing and to make sure we clean up the gambling industry in this country—because we are hurting many, many Australians when we don't. When we walk past corruption, we all suffer. I urge both sides. I know Crown casino and the gambling industry generally have very close ties to many members of parliament. We all know this. We know that donations flow through. We get to see every February what's received and then published through the AEC. However, we have to do the right thing in this place. You can't ignore the footage. We must act on this footage.

So I would urge every member in this place: do the right thing and support this inquiry. We need to have a royal commission into this. Enough is enough. When we see Aldi bags with potentially millions of dollars in them, why on earth would we allow that to occur? AUSTRAC, the anti-money-laundering authority, must just shake their heads when they see that footage. It's like trying to hold back the ocean. Let me tell you: the gambling industry is our NRA in this country. People in this place who are elected to represent their communities must act and must support this motion.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government doesn't support this motion to suspend standing orders and obviously we do not support the substantive motion. The substantive motion is self-evidently a call to refer a matter to a royal commission—so to create a royal commission. There are reasons that that is completely premature and not the appropriate course of action at this point in time. Nevertheless, it's fair and reasonable that the member for Clark makes his submission that it should be the subject of a freshly created royal commission—and I'll address why we take an alternative view.

But what the member for Clark should not do, as he continually does in those submissions, is take the extra step into what are, frankly, quite outrageous statements. He finished his contribution with words to the effect: 'How can people have faith in the AFP when they treat differently crimes committed by Crown?' That is a clear and direct imputation that the good men and women of the AFP are turning some blind eye at an investigative level to known criminal conduct. You just cannot say things like that under privilege in this place without good evidence to support it. It is quite wrong. It is a slur on the people who work at that organisation. It demonstrates a step way too far in making what otherwise is a submission which we disagree with but is reasonably put. In fact, Member for Clark, it significantly detracts from the strength of your submission. It makes it look a bit crazy, to be honest, to make a statement like that about the AFP without any kind of backing-up of the statement.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Watch the video.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Clark will not interject.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've listened to what you've said, and there is nothing that suggests corruption by the AFP in terms of a differential treatment of criminality that is asserted by one organisation over another. There is just simply nothing that supports that very, very serious statement.

Of course, this is not new to the House. Members will recall that in July when, admittedly, serious allegations were first raised, the government referred them to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity under section 18 of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act. The commissioner accepted that referral and the commission is engaging in an appropriately comprehensive investigation of the allegations. As I said when the member for Clark first sought to establish a joint parliamentary committee into allegations surrounding Crown, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity is the most appropriate body to consider those allegations. The government's position remains unchanged as to the appropriateness of ACLEI to investigate the allegations. We do not support the creation of a royal commission to conduct what would be a simultaneous investigation into Crown Casino, when the current investigation has adequate powers and resourcing.

I might note also that there would be three investigations simultaneously being conducted into these matters. First, as I noted, is the investigation by ACLEI, which is the specialist agency responsible for the investigation of corruption issues in the Australian government law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Home Affairs and any other law enforcement agency. That investigation is underway. ACLEI works very closely with state and territory counterparts. So, obviously, it has been working cooperatively with the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation's investigation into Crown—which is the second contemporaneous investigation. Also, the New South Wales state government has launched its own investigation, chaired by the Hon. Patricia Bergin SC—and ACLEI is, again, in discussion with that inquiry. So there are three inquiries, with the full breadth of jurisdiction and powers required.

ACLEI is highly experienced in these types of investigations. In fact, it is better resourced to quickly and effectively commence an investigation into allegations of corruption than any other single body or envisaged body in the Commonwealth. I might note for the member for Clark's benefit that ACLEI's investigative powers are essentially the same as a royal commission's, including the power to compel evidence. I might also note that it also has covert powers, such as controlled operations powers, as well as the power of arrest. So, if ACLEI obtains admissible evidence of any criminal offence in the course of its investigation into this matter, it must, by compulsion, give that evidence to the relevant police or prosecutorial authority, including state or territory authorities.

I might take a brief moment before closing to clarify a number of seriously inaccurate comments that have been made, particularly by the Australia Institute, on this matter and the ACLEI investigation, which, as I noted, was requested by the government in July of this year. The Australia Institute has made a number of factually inaccurate assertions with respect to ACLEI, its powers and its capacity to investigate. I can inform the House that those assertions from the Australia Institute were so inaccurate that the Integrity Commissioner felt the need to take the unusual step of writing to the Australia Institute directly to correct those statements. In fact, my office has spoken with the Commissioner for the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner and he considered it appropriate that I table the letter. I will seek to do that now.

I won't go through that letter in full here. But I will mention two of the points that the commissioner, quite properly, raises in response to claims that have been made by the Australia Institute. In the first point, he noted: 'The Australia Institute claim that ACLEI does not have the full investigative powers of the royal commission.' That is simply wrong. Secondly, the commissioner notes in his correspondence to the Australia Institute: 'ACLEI's powers are, in some respects, greater than that of a royal commission.' The Australia Institute also claimed ACLEI's definition of corrupt conduct is, in the words of the Australia Institute:

More limited than the definitions of the state-based anti-corruption commissions.

Again, this is simply inaccurate. Corrupt conduct is defined, for the purposes of this investigation, in section 6 of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act as being: 'conduct that involves, or that is engaged in for the purpose of, an abuse of office; or perverting the course of justice; or conduct that, having regard to the duties and powers of the staff member as a staff member of the agency, involves, or is engaged in for the purpose of, corruption of any other kind'. As the Integrity Commissioner notes in his letter to the Australia Institute, it's clearly the case that those words 'corruption of any other kind' is an incredibly broad definition that would well and truly take into its scope any of the matters that have been alleged in this Crown investigation.

There is a full list of other factually inaccurate comments that have made in that correspondence that I've tabled. I won't seek to go through them all here. We decline to support the suspension of standing orders and the substantive motion, on the basis that it is not meritorious in the context of there being an ACLEI investigation, a Victorian investigation and a New South Wales investigation—all of them with the appropriate jurisdiction, all of them with the appropriate powers. I think it evidences the fact that this is not a meritorious proposition from the member for Clark when, at the end of the proposition, he resorts to what is a very nasty and quite wrong slur on the AFP.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by the member for Clark be agreed to. There being more than one voice calling for a division, in accordance with standing order 133 the division is deferred until after the discussion of the matter of public importance.

Debate adjourned.