Former Star Entertainment chief executive Matt Bekier broke the law by failing to take seriously the risk that junket operators were money laundering in the company’s casinos, and for not properly informing the board that there was a serious threat that criminals were operating inside the gaming rooms. In a landmark ruling, similar findings were made against Star’s former chief legal and risk officer Paula Martin. However, the case in the Federal Court brought by the corporate regulator did not find the directors of the company to be liable.

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News in brief

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has declared Australia and Canada “strategic cousins” and given that the international rules-based system is breaking down, the countries should collaborate rather than compete in artificial intelligence and critical minerals.

Australia’s four largest airports – Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – spent $1.5 billion last financial year to expand capacity, upgrade terminals and improve access, but customers are likely to pay the bill, according to the competition watchdog.

The number of fast-food outlets opened last year hit a record high, on the back of population growth, cost-of-living pressures and the rising popularity of food delivery apps. Subway had the largest number of outlets, while Zambrero was the fastest growing. (See the list at the end of the newsletter.)

NATO air defences yesterday shot down an Iranian ballistic missile heading towards Turkish airspace. If Turkey was targeted, and that’s unclear, it would mark a major escalation on a war that so far has been contained to the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. The conflict came to the Indian Ocean came when a US submarine sank an Iranian warship.

Formula 1 racing for the season kicks off in Melbourne over the weekend, with official practice starting today. Ten teams and 20 drives compete over 24 Grand Prixes throughout the year. The 5.287km Albert Park track has hosted the race since 1996, and is scheduled to hold it until 2035.

Fear-o-meter

Being a director might sound like fun, but it comes with responsibilities. And it isn’t an easy role.

Yesterday’s Federal Court ruling found Star Entertainment former CEO Matt Bekier, and former chief legal and risk officer Paula Martin, did break the law by not taking the threat of money laundering seriously enough.

The corporate regulator, ASIC, also sued the board of directors, saying they should have known about it. It was the first time that the corporate watchdog alleged directors were to blame for something that they did not do but should have stopped.

It wanted the directors to be held to account, under their duty of care proviso, for what the regulator says was a systemic failure to prevent money laundering at Star's casinos in Sydney and the Gold Coast.

The directors were not found liable, but the Judge Michael Lee didn’t let them off the hook. He said it might be a hard job, but the law expects significantly more than it got from the board.

He went on to say that ultimately it fell to investigative journalism and then a statutory inquiry to expose the extent of the problems at The Star. The inference was that directors should have known much more.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On leaving Domain, only to return a few months later to lead a very different company under CoStar ownership:

 

“I was under no misapprehension that this was not a simple story of chapter two. We were writing a completely different novel.

 

And that required fundamental change on my behalf. It required change in the basics of how I operated. It couldn’t mean changing to an inauthentic approach, but it did mean referencing different areas of strength that I have as a leader, and also wading into areas that maybe I hadn’t flexed muscles as a leader before.

 

We are joining a US founder-led business as a division. That’s a big step away from a locally listed corporate organisation with a deep Australian culture.

 

So I needed to lean into that change and drive it. And I’m going out to the same customers and telling them that everything is different. I have sufficient self-awareness that it needs to be more than a message when the same guy turns up and tells customers that everything is different.”

Greed-o-meter

As mentioned above, fast food chains opened a lot of new stores last year:

Source: GapMaps

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