McGowan says he had no hand in Crown commissioner’s appointment. A cabinet minister says otherwise
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WA Premier Mark McGowan has refused to answer questions about his involvement in the selection of Perth Casino Royal Commission lead commissioner Neville Owen, despite his own cabinet colleague suggesting it was the Premier who put the former judge’s name forward.
In a tense press conference on Wednesday, Mr McGowan said cabinet decided the appointment, but declined to respond to a ‘yes-or-no’ question over whether he was involved.
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Finkelstein investigating Crown casino and hotel separation
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Thatâs a wrap
Thatâs it from us on the blog. Here are the key points you need to know from todayâs submissions:
Crown wants to either retain its casino licence with a monitor overseeing its reform process or lose it for two years but then reapply. In other words, it does not want the Melbourne licence to go to an open tender as counsels assisting the royal commission suggested.
The company says losing its licence is not in Victoriaâs interests, pointing to their high tax contributions, tourism appeal and staff numbers. Finkelstein rejected that the consequences would be as dire as Crown said.
The sudden announcement from the casino giant was confirmed with a statement to the ASX this morning.
The statement said Mr Walsh, who joined Crown in 2008, will cease his role as Crown Melbourne chief executive in just over two weeks.
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Victoria will hold a royal commission into Crown Casino.(Joe Armao) Mr Walsh will remain available to assist the company until his employment at Crown ends on 9 December, the statement said.
Crown said it would announce an interim appointment to replace Mr Walsh following consultation with the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
In March the Victorian government announced it would launch a Royal Commission into Crown Melbourne.