Former SMH editor Alexander hits out at his former newspaper

Crown chair John Alexander stepped up his attack against ‘activists who continue to pursue an anti-Crown agenda’.

Crown executive chairman John Alexander arrives for the the Crown Resorts 2019 Annual General Meeting at Crown Towers in Melbourne. Picture: AAP

John Alexander on Thursday stepped up his attack against what he called “interests and activists who continue to pursue an anti-Crown agenda” and rejected suggestions the company had not fulfilled its continuous disclosure obligations.

Mr Alexander, a former editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review, made his strongest comments yet attacking Nine’s reporting of Crown (Nine now owns Fairfax).

“I have never seen a quality news organisation publish a story it openly admits it hasn’t been able to verify,’’ he said of a report last week alleging Crown employees were expected to facilitate bringing overseas high rollers into Australia without customs checks.

Mr Alexander also rejected the suggestion Crown had not kept the market informed about the inquiries facing the company and said he would not be in favour of a royal commission into the local casino industry, noting next week’s inquiry would have similar powers.

The former Australian border force boss Roman Quaedvlieg is set to testify next week in public hearings into corruption allegations involving the agency’s treatment of Crown casino high-rollers.

Mr Alexander noted that this week the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Mike Pezzullo, rejected allegations Crown was bypassing the visa process.

“Giving evidence to a Senate estimates hearing, he said, quote, ‘No-one can come to Australia without a visa, so the suggestion that people come uncredentialled is wrong’,” Mr Alexander said.

“Later, he went on to say, quote, ‘The law is applied universally. So, when you ask if we have a double standard and carve out particular entities, the answer is no’.”

Crown is also facing ongoing inquiries by the Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation into the media allegations against the company and the detention of 19 of its staff in China in 2016.