Page 767 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 July 1989
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The fact is that the laundering of moneys in casinos has been for a long time a problem in the casino world. Money changes hands and is laundered. If only members of this Assembly could understand how Resorts International, an international company, operates. They have casinos in Bahamas and in other places. That company, Resorts International, also has the largest private security agency in the world; it provides guards to heads of state; it provides counterespionage for industrial situations; it protects all manner of things.
This is the new face of organised crime. The new face is to have a good front, and the fact is that Resorts International tried to get the Adelaide casino. It is well-identified in congressional hearings in the United States. Resorts International has a policy of inviting the rich and famous to premises associated with its casino. What you do, Mr Speaker, is that you have a residential block close to a casino - and those of us familiar with the section 19 proposal will see it there - and you use that residential block to invite politicians - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Collaery! I think you are diverting slightly again.
MR COLLAERY: I will indicate, Mr Speaker, that our concerns were about the section 19 development and those questions were directed to Mr Whalan directly enough for him to discern what we were at. Those of us sitting opposite Mr Whalan saw that immediate flash of recognition that one often sees. I have been a lawyer, Mr Speaker, for many years and I know that witness box reaction.
The casino issue is extremely important to the people of the Australian Capital Territory. They need to be assured that the government of this Territory is in proper hands. They need to be assured that the Chief Minister has complete faith in her Ministers and that the Chief Minister will respond to the question raised on 4 July in this chamber as to whether she would look into the matter of an NCA interview with a former commissioner for housing. That is all we asked - no more than that she would look into it and make a statement. A great hoo-ha, a great burst of injured feelings, has developed about the loan. We did not ask about the loan.
Mrs Grassby: Well, what do you want to know about it?
MR COLLAERY: We asked about the discharge.
Mrs Grassby: Well, what do you want to know about the discharge? Tell us so that she will know.
MR COLLAERY: And we asked the Chief Minister whether she would respond.
Ms Follett: Read my answer, Mr Collaery.
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