Royal Commission into casino industry urgently needed
Posted October 15, 2019
The major parties' refusal to support a Crossbench call for a Royal Commission into allegations Crown Casino had engaged in money-laundering stinks of political donation influence, Federal Member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie said today.
Image: Donation data Crown Casino from the AEC’s Annual Returns database
“If you donate $1000 you are a political party supporter. If you’re donating $1 million it’s fair to say you would expect something," Rebekha said.
“In just four years from 2013/14 to 2017/18 Crown Casino has donated $938,071 to the major parties.
“Is it any surprise none of the major parties supported our call today for a Royal Commission into the casino industry?”
Today Rebekha supported a motion put forward by the Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, calling for a Royal Commission into Australian casinos.
You can read her speech in the parliament here.
Only members of the Crossbench voted in support of bringing the motion to the House of Representatives for debate.
Mr Wilkie said the lack of support from the Government and the Opposition was a "deeply disappointing result, but at the same time unsurprising".
“Today’s video evidence of money laundering at Crown Casino is undeniable. For the parties to ignore it is a shocking indictment of the depth politics has plunged to and of the diabolical relationship between Crown and the political establishment," Mr Wilkie said.
“The Liberal and Labor parties’ protection racket is obviously in good shape and this was seen again by everyone today.
“Today’s vote was an opportunity for the Federal Government and the Federal Opposition to demonstrate that they are interested in holding Crown Casino accountable, but instead they just demonstrated that they are more interested in protecting Crown.”
