McGowan dismisses conflict talk as Crown interim report handed down

The relationship between lead commissioner Neville Owen and James Packer’s ‘best friend’ Kerry Stokes isn’t a conflict of interest says Mark McGowan.

James Packer and Kerry Stokes are good friends.

The relationship between the head of the Western Australian Royal Commission into Perth’s Crown casino and Perth billionaire Kerry Stokes does not represent a conflict of interest, WA premier Mark McGowan says.

As the Royal Commission’s interim findings into the Perth casino were formally tabled in parliament, Mr McGowan said questions about lead commissioner Neville Owen’s friendship with Mr Stokes and his role as a director of three of Mr Stokes’s family companies amounted to “character assassination”.

“I don’t understand what the conflict is. I realise I’m getting these questions from some news outlets, but I don’t understand what the conflict is,” Mr McGowan said.

Mr Stokes is one of the closest friends and confidants of Crown’s major shareholder James Packer.

The Australian also understands that Mr Stokes counselled Mr Packer during the Bergin inquiry into Crown in NSW, which ultimately unearthed the money-laundering findings that triggered the WA royal commission.

And at least two of the most senior figures in Mr Stokes’ Seven West Media empire are or were in senior positions within Crown.

Seven West’s WA chief executive Maryna Fewster is a director of Crown’s Perth subsidiary Burswood Ltd, while Seven West director John Alexander was a long-time chief executive and deputy chairman of Crown. Ms Fewster appeared before the Royal Commission last week – prompting Mr Owen to disclose his relationship with Mr Stokes – while Mr Alexander is yet to be called.

But Mr McGowan said he could not see any conflict of interest in Mr Owen’s relationship with Mr Stokes.

“There are lots of relationships in the community and Neville Owen is an older gentleman who is highly respected, so obviously he is going to know people across the community,” the premier said.

“If you wanted to have a Royal Commission in which no-one knew anyone, we would probably have to go and get the Royal Commissioners from Iceland.”

Mr Stokes’ The West Australian newspaper has previously reported how Mr Stokes took charge of Mr Packer’s affairs when the casino mogul’s life started falling apart. In 2016, amid turbulence in the relationship between Mr Packer and Mariah Carey, Mr Stokes arranged for Mr Packer to fly from the US to a mental health facility in Israel without the singer’s knowledge.

It was Mr Stokes who then postponed Mr Packer’s wedding to Ms Carey and refused to authorise the purchase of a $250,000 wedding dress.

In The Price of Fortune, by The Australian’s Damon Kitney, Mr Packer said “over the past five years I haven’t had a better friend” than Mr Stokes.

WA opposition leader Mia Davies said Mr McGowan needed to provide more detail about whether he knew about Mr Owen’s connections to Mr Stokes before his appointment as lead commissioner.

“They are a government that said they hold themselves to a gold standard of transparency. You would expect on this very important issue that the premier would be putting himself in that same category,” she said.

“The premier and his government appointed the commissioner and called the royal commission, they need to make sure that the outcomes are beyond question.”

The focus on Mr Owen’s potential conflicts of interest came as the Royal Commission’s own interim findings were formally tabled in parliament and released.

The interim report made no findings or recommendations, it did identify several issues that will be considered before it hands down its final report next year.

Among those issues were what the commission said were “serious questions” about the WA Gaming and Wagering Commission’s ability to identify and address any conflicts of interest. The commission said it was continuing to investigate “alleged conflicts of interest” in the friendships between the Gaming and Wagering Commission’s then-chief casino officer Michael Connolly and three former casino employees, as well as at least one marriage between departmental staff and casino employees.

The report said it was still too early to comment definitively on the deficiencies in the current regulatory framework.