Still the same Trump? Does a leopard change its spots?
Cabinet documents reveal police warned NSW government about approving a
1986-87 plan to build city’s first casino in Darling Harbour
A bid by Donald Trump to build Sydney’s first casino was rejected 37 years ago after police expressed concerns about his links to the mafia.
News Corp revealed on Wednesday morning
minutes of the New South Wales cabinet that show police had warned the
state government against approving a 1986-87 bid by a Trump consortium
to build and operate a casino in Darling Harbour.
Trump,
in partnership with the Queensland construction company Kern, was one
of four groups vying for the lucrative project. The NSW government dumped it from the process on 5 May 1987, along with two other bidders.
At the time, the state treasurer, Ken Booth, said
he had received reports on the bids from the police board, the state’s
Treasury, the Darling Harbour Authority, and an independent financial
consultant.
“I wish to inform honourable
members that in light of these reports the government has decided to
eliminate three tenderers from further consideration,” Booth told the
state parliament. “These are the HKMS consortium, the Federal-Sabemo
consortium and the Kern-Trump consortium.”
The
public was not told the substance of the NSW government’s concerns.
Booth said the reports “contain confidential and commercially sensitive
material” and refused to make them public.
Now,
under rules that declassify NSW cabinet papers after 30 years,
summaries of the various reports on the Kern/Trump bid have come to
light.
The documents, obtained by News Corp,
show the Kern/Trump group was one of three deemed “dangerous” by the
police board. “Briefly stated, the Police Board considers that HKMS,
Federal/Resorts/Sabemo, Kern/Trump, are unacceptable,” the summary of
the police report said.
“Atlantic City would be a dubious model for Sydney
and in our judgment, the Trump mafia connections should exclude the
Kern/Trump consortium,” a summary of the police board’s report said.
The
cabinet papers also show there were doubts about the viability of the
Kern/Trump bid. A report prepared by the independent contractor, the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, found the Kern/Trump bid was one of
two that were “not financially viable”.
The
report found that revenues for the casino were overstated. “The proposal
is financially viable on the basis that the projected financial
structure is reasonably based,” a summary said.
“However,
projected casino revenue estimates are not soundly based and the
quantum of the potential overstatement is so material that the tender is
not financially viable. Also, the tender is not financially viable on
the basis of expected returns to equity investors.”
The
Darling Harbour Authority, which assessed the design of Trump’s
proposed casino, was largely supportive. It described Kern/Trump casino
design as “rich, attractive and well-integrated” and said it would have
“strong public appeal”.
The casino control division also gave Kern/Trump “unqualified certification” for the running of a casino in NSW.
One
of the chief critics of the proposed casino at the time was the Rev
Fred Nile, who is still a sitting member of the NSW upper house.
When the government announced its rejection of
the Kern/Trump bid, Nile described the process as a “disaster” and
pushed for the NSW government to scrap the casino entirely.
Nile
told Guardian Australia he had raised concerns about possible organised
crime links with the planned casino. “We certainly wouldn’t have wanted
any connection with organised crime,” he said.
“We talked about that and there was always problems – casinos attract prostitution and other things.”
He
was also strongly opposed to it having poker machines. “Which upset
[Kerry] Packer, because you make a lot of money from the poker
machines,” he said. “We were able to get the government to pass the law
that there would be no poker machines in the Crown casino.”
See the NSW Cabinet Papers from 1987:
See also:
Australia ‘went where US wouldn’t’ on Trump mafia links
The untold story of 'dangerous' Australian casino connections that saved Donald Trump from financial ruin