How a Packer didn't get his own way

James Packer's grilling at the NSW casino inqury suggests the family's aura of invincibility is fading. The seeds of this crisis were sown long ago.

James Packer came under heavy fire in the casino probe. David Rowe

James ThomsonColumnist

Oct 9, 2020 – 2.59pm

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

For a moment – just a moment – we got a glimpse of the famous Packer charm.

Near the end of James Packer’s time in the virtual witness box at the NSW government inquiry into Crown Resorts’ Sydney casino licence, inquiry head Commissioner Patricia Bergin, SC, asked the billionaire why information sharing between casinos and regulators would suddenly work when it had stalled for the past 30 years.