STRICT guidelines for determining when private proposals to the NSW government can bypass a competitive tender process were watered down shortly before James Packer put forward his plan for a $1 billion hotel and casino at Barangaroo.
It can be revealed that a requirement for ''independent evaluations'' of a project to justify not going to tender were removed two weeks before the proposal by Mr Packer's Crown Ltd was formally lodged with the state government on September 6.
The change was made on August 17, a week after the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, met Mr Packer to discuss his proposal.

The revelation will place more pressure on Mr O'Farrell to justify not putting to tender a possible second Sydney casino licence being pursued by Mr Packer, which could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to NSW.
Mr O'Farrell announced last week that Mr Packer's six-star hotel and casino project for Barangaroo had received cabinet approval to proceed to stage two of a three-stage ''unsolicited proposals'' assessment process.
Mr Packer wants to include VIP-only gambling rooms in his proposed six-star hotel to make the project profitable and needs the government to issue a second Sydney casino licence when the monopoly licence held by the Star casino expires in 2019.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/how-casino-dodged-tender-trap-20121031-28kib.html#ixzz2AunVrNLG

Yes, on the day the SMH has this article on the dumb genes, we can only wonder about the price of fish... Barangaroo needs a bit of culture apart from gardens and I don't mean arts... I mean sciences. Real sciences — not tacky sciences for kiddies or statistics to beat the odds at the chemin-de-fer gambling table (the "bank" may take a percentage when the winner takes all). I mean science for adult as complex as one can make them and stir the possum in our heads....

 

James Packer and his web of lobbyists must be laughing themselves silly over how easy it is. Within eight months of publicly floating his Barangaroo casino ambition, Packer has the Liberal and Labor Parties in his back pocket along with key media types and organs while the remnant of unseduced commentary has been suckered into playing by Crown’s house rules - lured into a skirmish instead of considering the war.
That’s the sort of a decision a society is free to make, but having made it, good government should be pursuing the optimum outcome from its gambling industry instead of bending over for billionaire mates and the clubs lobby. The failure of the NSW government and opposition to do so means we have a bunch of second-rate politicians putting minority interests ahead of the overall population.
We are a state that gambles more than our nation of gamblers. At least we should do it properly.
And when it comes to losing, casinos take more from ordinary punters. Those 2008-09 figures show the losing percentage of casino turnover was 17.8 per cent, following by 13.7 per cent on the races and 9.2 per cent on the pokies. But for the problem gamblers – typically the less educated and less intelligent – is that the loss ratio tends to be 100 per cent.
Something to think about as we enjoy what will be a record festival of the punt next Tuesday – the Melbourne Cup and Oz Lotto double.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/duopoly-works-just-fine-for-packer-20121101-28m53.html#ixzz2Awh4Mgoi

 

I still remember the morning in 1993 when Sydney was awarded the 2000 Olympics. About the same time the state of Victoria was almost declared bankrupt.
I, like many others at the time, thought Sydney would catapult ahead and leave Melbourne in its dust. Almost the complete opposite has occurred.Destination NSW, the government's own tourism body, in its recent Visitor Economy Taskforce Report outlines this Sydney decline, particularly in the tourism sector.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/for-the-good-of-sydney-back-this-plan-20121102-28p9t.html#ixzz2B4uuWhNq
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Wonderful prose from James Packer... yes Sydney got the Olympics, and the Olympics made NSW broke, except for some clever accounting by the Labor NSW government... Some of the venues are still not paying for themseves... But really did we have a good time and did the world see Sydney!... Magic.
In regard to accomodation, one can have a top class hotel without having to fleece the customers in a tacky casino... So far the bullshit is spread across the entire harbour by Mr James Packer whose father would be horrified at the way the business has gone.

Meanwhile, in Queensland, the pros could be ejected from motels under a new law... 

Civil libertarians have slammed changes to laws in Queensland which would allow hotel and motel owners to deny accommodation to sex industry workers.

The amendments to the state's Anti-Discrimination Act mean hoteliers can now refuse a room to a sex worker or evict them if they think they are operating a business on the property.

The Queensland Government says the move protects the rights of business owners, but civil libertarians say it is a dangerous step backwards.

Earlier this year a fly-in, fly-out sex worker took the owner of a central Queensland motel to court.

The Drovers Rest Motel had banned her from the premises when they discovered she was bringing clients back to her room.

She appealed the decision and won on the grounds the motel owners had breached the state's Anti-Discrimination Act.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-02/hoteliers-given-power-to-evict-sex-workers/4350560?WT.svl=news2

 

In this regard, Mr James Packer wants all Sydneysiders to become a pimp for his project... Good one.

 

 

Melco Crown Entertainment, the Macau joint venture between billionaire James Packer and a son of gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, said third-quarter profit fell as high-stakes Chinese gamblers curbed spending amid a slowing economy.

Net income fell 7.4 per cent to $US104.9 million ($A100.8 million) from $US113.3 million, based on US accounting standards, according to a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. That compares with a $US93.4 million average estimate from nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell 5.8 per cent to $US226.4 million, and net revenue fell 4.3 per cent to $US1.01 billion. Earnings per American depositary share fell to 19 cents from 21 cents.

The decline reflects a pullback by high-rollers, or VIP betters, from China's mainland, even as mass-market betting gained. Melco and rivals such as Galaxy Entertainment Group are expanding on Macau's increasingly popular Cotai strip to reach more middle-class Chinese tourists.

Chief executive Lawrence Ho said he's "optimistic" about growth in 2013, and that the first few days of November were "phenomenal". Melco maintained its market-leading mass-market yields, he said.

So-called rolling chip volume, a measure of VIP gambling, fell 4 per cent to $US19.5 billion in the third quarter, Melco said. Mass-market table-games drop gained 22 per cent to $US889.8 million and slot-machine handle surged 54 per cent to $US816.3 million, it said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/melco-crown-upbeat-despite-sliding-income-20121108-28zld.html#ixzz2BbPjz46f

see also: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/23069#comment-25928

 

The West Australian government has admitted to serious concerns about how cabinet documents detailing a meeting between Premier Colin Barnett and billionaire James Packer came to be leaked to a journalist.
The WA Liberals were forced to defend themselves on Sunday, after it was revealed Mr Barnett and Mr Packer had discussed Perth's $1 billion stadium months before the government approved it being built at Burswood, where Mr Packer is currently upgrading his Crown Casino complex.
With the state opposition saying it was another example of the premier being economical with the truth, Treasurer Troy Buswell said government officials would be investigating how the Cabinet decision sheet was leaked to The Sunday Times.
"It is an important issue, and of serious concern if cabinet documents do find their way into the public domain," Mr Buswell said.
"I imagine as a matter of course the senior members of the bureaucracy who look after that part of government will be looking into it.
"It is not an acceptable outcome."
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said Mr Barnett had a "callous indifference to the truth", and may have misled parliament over the Packer meeting in 2011.
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/worries-over-was-packer-meeting-leak-20130203-2dsap.html#ixzz2JpDhd5QH