Crown questions ‘too heavy’

A former regulator overseeing Crown’s Perth operations has given testy testimony at the royal commission, accusing counsel assisting of “coming across too heavy” when asked if it would have been better if the body had done more to protect gamblers from harm.

The probe is the third faced by the company over its money-laundering scandal, the first being last year’s lengthy NSW inquiry that left Crown without a gaming licence for its Sydney venue.

A key focus of the Perth investigation is the efficacy of oversight by Western Australia’s Gaming and Wagering Commission. On Tuesday it heard from former board member Trevor Fisher, who worked there between 2012 and 2017 but brought no prior experience with regulating gambling.

Counsel assisting Kala Campbell asked his views on the harms caused by problem gambling.

“I haven’t had a personal effect from any friends or family, but I’ve just seen what it can do to outside families in the way of broken homes and abuse, and down that line,” Mr Fisher said.

He said he was generally aware harm minimisation duties were part of the role of the GWC and, while it was a required task under the relevant act, that had not been pointed out to him.

Mr Fisher agreed harm minimisation was important.

“Seeing these sections of the GWC Act now, Mr Fisher, do you think it would have been better for those to have been brought to your attention when you started with the GWC?” Ms Campbell asked. He replied: “Undoubtedly”. But Mr Fisher said one of the reasons he believed it was not a big issue in WA was a 1999 Productivity Commission report showing there was not a high prevalence of problem gambling in the state.

“You’re coming across to me, to say that gambling is a huge, huge, huge problem,” Mr Fisher said. “I don’t know if it is a huge, huge, huge problem … I think you’re coming across too heavy.”

Findings from the probe will be handed down next year.