Star has weeks to prove progress on planned Qld fixes. But you can’t see them

The news

A deadline looms for the Queensland government’s decision on whether casino giant Star is doing enough towards a state-approved rehabilitation plan to keep its dual licences.

But, as the new home of one of its casinos – Brisbane’s $4 billion Queen’s Wharf – readies for a delayed opening from August, neither the company nor government will detail where the goalposts are.

The Star Entertainment Group’s Brisbane Treasury casino licence is planned to be transferred to Queen’s Wharf, in which Star is a 50 per cent partner, once it opens. It also operates The Star Gold Coast and Sydney.Credit: Courtney Kruk / RTI

The casino giant’s effort would play a key role in the deferred government decision, due within weeks, about Brisbane and Gold Coast licence suspension threats.

How we got here

Brisbane Times applied under right to information laws for the national remediation plan Star submitted to the state last year, as part of its strictly managed efforts to reform.

Such work was necessary after inquiries in Queensland and NSW – where Star operates its namesake Sydney site – found the company was unfit to hold its licences amid revelations of extensive anti-money laundering and counterterrorism failings.

While parts of the 205-page document’s executive synopsis have been released by the Justice Department after required consultation with Star, 150 pages were redacted, citing “commercial information”.

Why it matters

Star’s licence in NSW was suspended in 2022, with Nicholas Weeks appointed by that state’s regulator as a special manager and given a similar role in Queensland months later.

A second NSW inquiry began fresh public hearings this week, fuelled by concerns about reform progress.

Weeks told the inquiry concern about “widespread” falsified welfare checks on customers using poker machines for more than three hours in Sydney had sparked probes in Queensland.

The Queensland government would decide whether to again defer a 90-day suspension of Star’s Brisbane and Gold Coast licences, enforce them, or withdraw them, based on the recommendation of Weeks by May 31.

What they said

The remediation plan, with a four-year budget of $214.5 million, includes 110 initiatives across 15 different areas of Star’s business laid out – with any detail redacted – in the synopsis.

These have been organised into three “horizons” according to the timeframes required. The first, dubbed “rebuild”, is said to lay the foundations for reform.

“This horizon is also identifying deliverables for the planned April 2024 opening of The Star Brisbane,” the plan, dated October 5 last year, said of the now-delayed opening of Queen’s Wharf.

While going on to lay out governance arrangements and work by Star management to engage its thousands of staff, most extra detail in the 37-page synopsis is also redacted.

What you need to know

The fall of Star since the allegations first reported by this masthead and 60 Minutes has reverberated across its board, most of its former executives, and share price since 2021.

The company has been hit with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fines from the state-based inquiries, and set aside $150 million for a potential AUSTRAC penalty.

Hundreds of jobs were shed last year after low casino earnings, which have continued into 2024.