Star Entertainment: David Crisafulli demands workers be saved as company crumbles

Premier David Crisafulli says it is non-negotiable that Star Entertainment’s multibillion-dollar Brisbane and Gold Coast venues stay open despite the company’s existential crisis.

Premier David Crisafulli on Monday. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

Premier David Crisafulli says it is non-negotiable that Star Entertainment’s multibillion-dollar Brisbane and Gold Coast venues stay open despite the company’s existential crisis.

Shares in Star Entertainment were suspended from trading following its failure to release updated finances with growing fears the company could be tipped into administration within days.

Six thousand workers are employed at Star’s Queensland operations: Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane and The Star Gold Coast.

Rising uncertainty prompted Mr Crisafulli to declare any future administrator or casino operator must prioritise workers.

“Our non-negotiable is the place stays open and if the place stays open that means that there will be a continuity of employment,” he said.

However, Mr Crisafulli was unable to detail how the government would ensure the Queen’s Wharf and Gold Coast facilities remained open, but said he was in regular contact with the United Workers’ Union.

“The union’s been pretty good to deal with as well and we’re on a unity ticket on this one,” he said.

“I’ve lost no sleep over the company called Star, I think a lot about the workers, though and my non-negotiable is that they stay in a job.

“Our willingness to be good partners and assist is all predicated on one thing and that is the workers being paid and the next thing is money that’s owed to Queenslanders need to be paid back as well.”

The Star at Queens Wharf in Brisbane. Picture: David Clark

In an statement to the ASX, the company said it was unlikely to be in a position to lodge its half-yearly financial report unless and until it had secured a commitment to refinance all of the group’s existing corporate debt as well as an agreement to provide additional liquidity.

Star shares were automatically suspended from trading on Monday after the company failed to lodge its half-year financial report by the due date on Friday.

Star owes $430m to a syndicate of lenders and also is on the hook to pay back half the $1.6bn of debt on its new Queen’s Wharf hotel and casino complex development in Brisbane.

It also faces a fine of as much as $300m in an action taken against it by federal money-laundering regulator, Austrac.

The stock market suspension comes amid speculation Star may have left its run too late to appoint administrators, with a fire sale of assets through a liquidation of the company looming as a worst-case scenario.

A liquidation may result in wholesale sackings and the loss of its best assets as opposed to an administration, which could give the company breathing space to restructure.

Star Entertainment’s board and advisers were locked in talks over the weekend in a desperate attempt to stitch together an eleventh-hour deal to avoid collapse.

If none of the liquidity proposals stack up, administrators could be appointed to the company, potentially throwing up to 9000 people in Queensland and Sydney out of work.

Originally published as Star Entertainment: David Crisafulli demands workers be saved as company crumbles