One of Australia's richest people, James Packer, has defended the way he and the New South Wales Government have gone about securing a second Sydney casino at a new harbour-side development.

There will not be a tender for the casino process although Mr Packer insists he would have won any tender had it been conducted.

Yesterday the New South Wales Government gave a preliminary tick of approval for the casino-hotel proposal.

Mr Packer last night told a business dinner in Sydney he was not interested in making money, but wanted to build something "special" on the site at Barangaroo.

By his own admission, he has made some costly mistakes, but James Packer still regards himself as the luckiest person around, and he has spoken frankly about what attracted him to the casino business.

"I spent a lot of time in casinos as a kid with my dad, and I ended up thinking, f***, this must be a good business," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-26/packer-defends-sydney-casino-bid/4334692

It's a depressing notion that a glitzy, over-designed casino filled with Chinese whales champing to be fleeced, is the engine room of the city's tourism-led future. The lack of imagination is awe-inspiring.
Harnessing economic growth to gambling is such a hackneyed, failure-ridden experiment that it's a wonder it's being seriously entertained in this city.James Packer's gambling and hotel edifice at Barangaroo has ''done deal'' slapped all over it. The stage one, two and three deliberations are really just so much camouflage for something that is already stitched up.
The speed with which things are moving confirms the state government's headlong enthusiasm for a big, fat, high-rolling tomorrow.

Yesterday, cabinet approved the idea for Barangaroo from Packer's Crown Ltd.
This came two days after the Labor Party fell into line after some of the ALP's finest backroom maulers, Karl Bitar and Mark Arbib, now in Packer's employ, were set loose. The first indications from Packer and Crown that they had their sights set on being part of the rebuilding of Barangaroo came in February.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/state-bets-on-cash-cow-for-whales-20121025-2884u.html#ixzz2AMfbp2qs

So, NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, believes that James Packer’s proposed casino for high-rollers will benefit the state (‘How the casino deal fell into Packer's hands’; SMH, October 26)?

To quote the great man (er, James, not Barry) … ‘This is more than just about money for me. I think - I am a great believer in Sydney, this country has been incredibly kind to my family, this city has been incredibly kind to my family. My dad was a larger than life figure and I think this is my chance to do something that's, you know, that's special.’

As Winston Churchill might have said …. ‘Never has so much been owed to so many by so few.’

What was not recognised - or disclosed - was that the meeting had put in train a controversial process that now looks likely to clear the path for one of Australia's richest men to secure a lucrative Sydney casino licence without a tender process, and possibly for no fee.

Announcing this week that state cabinet had given the green light to progressing Packer's proposal, O'Farrell revealed he had steered the gaming mogul towards a new policy the government had announced in January for unique private-sector infrastructure proposals. ''He outlined the broad shape and we pointed him to the unsolicited proposals policy which had been, at that stage, in place for more than eight months,'' O'Farrell said.

The policy outlines how the government may enter ''direct dealing'' negotiations with companies. If the idea is good enough, it can secure government agreement to lock out all other competitors.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-packer-dynastys-long-game-20121026-28ay0.html#ixzz2AQtUSWJP

A HIGH roller casino at Barangaroo would bring a sophisticated ''James Bond feeling'' to the area says the TV gardener Don Burke, hired as a celebrity consultant on the development.
The state government's Barangaroo Delivery Authority has engaged Burke, for an undisclosed sum, to produce short online videos and advise on the headland park being developed at the northern end of the site.
Burke insists he is ''not for sale'' and his role is mainly to provide technical plant advice.
Burke says the six hectares containing 75,000 native plants would become ''probably one of the most important city parks in the world'', reminiscent of bush around his Kenthurst home

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/burke-bonds-with-barangaroos-high-roller-club-20121207-2b0uy.html#ixzz2EP9GxivB

There's no point anyone else bothering to enter the Public Relations Institute of Australia's Golden Target awards this year – Team Packer blitzed all possible entries last night by taking over Channel 7's Sunday Night program, the pinnacle of a campaign to turn Crown's bid for a privileged Sydney casino licence into an act of philanthropy, a nation-building vision of something that means “more than money”.

A casino that's “more than money” – maybe only a billionaire can imagine that as the highest possible praise....

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/packer-rolls-the-dice-with-dazzling-pr-blitz-20130211-2e73h.html#ixzz2Ka9f6nRQ

A philanthropic casino, now, I don't have to see that, do I?... I knew James' dad, Kerry, having met him and heard many stories from his friends — such as Kerry giving James some pocket money (in millions that is) to cut his teeth in the business world and make all the mistakes in the book possible... Then after that, once bitten, being more acute to "how real business is done"... and how to smell changes in the money market ahead of time... I love it... Obeid is only small fry in this game of chance... See toon at top.