Deloitte partner Victoria Whitaker said Crown’s then-chief executive,Ken Barton,told her there was a “fear around speaking up and communicating bad news” at Crown which was potentially due to a fear of “adverse consequences”.
That was backed up by interviews with Crown’s head of human resources,Alicia Gleeson,and a review of internal staff surveys,Ms Whitaker said,which also revealed “a sense of complacency” about escalating concerns because staff did not believe the company would act.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Penny Neskovcin,QC,put to Ms Whitaker that the list of preliminary cultural problems she found “paint a pretty grim picture of how Crown’s culture is perceived by senior individuals within the organisation”.
“What you’ve just listed does paint a pretty grim picture,yes,” Ms Whitaker said.
Mr Bartonresigned in February after being criticised heavily in the NSW inquiry. That probe ruled Crown unfit to run its new Sydney casino and found that serious problems with Crown’s corporate culture led to failures in preventing criminal infiltration at its Melbourne and Perth casinos.
Ms Whitaker said Deloitte’s effort to identify a list of cultural issues was ongoing,while noting there had been a significant overhaul of senior management and directors at Crown.