Helen Coonan rebuffs allegations of head office overreach at Crown’s Perth Casino

Crown chair Helen Coonan disagreed with assertions made at the WA royal commission that the casino operator’s head office pulled the strings at its Perth subsidiary.

Outgoing Crown Resorts chairman Helen Coonan outside the gaming group’s Sydney building. Picture: Adam Yip

Helen Coonan’s appearance before Western Australia’s royal commission into Crown’s Perth casino has underscored the gap in expectations between the Crown board and its local subsidiary over who held responsibility for the gaming giant’s WA operations.

For Ms Coonan, a former federal senator who was catapulted into the Crown executive chairman role in the wake of NSW’s Bergin Inquiry, her appearance at the WA commission is expected to be one of her last public acts before she steps down at the end of the month.

Much of the commission to date has focused on just where within Crown sat the responsibility for the goings on in Perth.

Given Bergin’s findings that the Perth casino had for years been exposed to money laundering from criminal gangs, counsel assisting the commission has attempted to pin the blame on the growing dominance of Crown head office over the Perth subsidiary.

Ms Coonan told the commission on Thursday that she did not agree with the earlier characterisations of the duties of Crown’s Burswood Ltd board by its former chairman John Poynton.

Mr Poynton last month testified that Burswood Ltd had little to no real control over the Perth casino itself. Instead, direct responsibility for the casino’s operations and its direction sat with the casino’s management under the oversight of the Crown Resorts board.

He described the role of the Burswood Ltd directors as “ambassadorial”, something Ms Coonan said she disagreed with.

“I’m not sure what he means, but I don’t think that correctly describes directors’ duties”, she said.

She also disagreed with Mr Poynton’s description that the Burswood Ltd board did not have the power to direct the casino, and was limited to overseeing the operations and escalating any concerns to the Crown Resorts board.

However, she noted that Burswood had no powers to hire or fire the local Crown Perth chief executive, with that responsibility sitting with the Crown Resorts board.

Ms Coonan defended the continued centralisation of anti money laundering, compliance and risk functions at Crown, but conceded there might be a role for greater local representation on Crown Perth board.

She also said it was a mistake that the Burswood Ltd board did not have a board charter clarifying the duties, responsibilities and powers of the board.

“It should have one, no doubt, and that’s something that needs to be attended to,” she said.

“I think the [Crown Resorts] board would be surprised to find out they don‘t have one. It’s an omission and it shouldn’t happen.”

Crown Resorts executive chair Helen Coonan, left, answers questions from Patricia Cahill SC, counsel assisting the WA royal commission into Crown Resorts, on Thursday.

Governance has been a central focus during Ms Coonan’s short reign at Crown, and she has to date been involved in the departure of at least nine senior personnel.

She defended the Crown board’s decision to place former CEO Ken Barton on a consultancy agreement following his resignation “by mutual agreement” after the Bergin Inquiry found he was “no match” for his role.

Asked by counsel assisting Patricia Cahill SC if the agreement was simply “window dressing” to make it look as though Mr Barton had left when he hadn’t, Ms Conan said the agreement was in “the best interest of the business”.

“It‘s a fairly conventional way of separating with a CEO, and particularly a CEO of very long standing when Crown has multiple issues on its plate it has to work through,” she said.

Ms Coonan said the burden of two royal commissions and scrutiny from regulators was making it difficult for Crown to recruit suitable candidates.

“It may come as no surprise that with issues to do with managing inquiries, royal commissions, and other regulatory matters, it is a difficult issue to attract suitably qualified directors.

“But the search goes on and we will be successful,” she said.

Asked whether she intended to continue assisting the company through a consultancy agreement after she steps down, Ms Coonan said she hadn’t turned her mind to it, but later clarified she would separate from the group entirely.

She said that the new chair would not be Crown’s newly appointed CEO, Steve McCann

“That‘s not in contemplation and the thinking of the board around my replacement is an entirely individually different person, someone of significant experience in chairing publicly listed companies,” Ms Coonan said.