Nine refutes allegation Costello worked as secret Crown lobbyist
Nine Entertainment Co has refuted claims that its chairman Peter Costello secretly worked as a lobbyist for casino giant Crown Resorts when it was controlled by billionaire James Packer.
In series of leaked emails revealed by The Australian newspaper and sent to a number of Nine employees including Costello and Nine Publishing managing director James Chessell, Packer alleged Costello worked as a “secret Crown lobbyist” in 2011 and “should resign” from all public positions.
A Nine spokesperson said Costello was never employed as a Crown lobbyist and said, “Peter Costello was an adviser to Consolidated Press Holdings in 2011, for a year.” Consolidated Press Holdings is one of Packer’s private investment vehicles, which housed its shares in Crown alongside other assets.
Packer ended his 20-year involvement with Crown Resorts as its largest shareholder earlier this year, when his sold his stake in the company to private equity firm Blackstone. The sale came after a 2019 investigation by this masthead led to a NSW inquiry that found the company was unfit to open its new Sydney casino.
Costello joined the board of Nine in 2013. He was appointed chairman of the media company in 2016. Nine Entertainment is the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The Packer family owned the Nine Network between 1956 and 2007. James sold the then television company to private equity firm CVC for about $5 billion.
In a note sent to staff on Monday, Nine Publishing’s managing director James Chessell said he was reluctant to comment publicly on The Australian report due to “mental health sensitivities.”
“I’ve received a blizzard of correspondence from Packer since he took exception to something we published in late June. After trying to engage with him at first – which clearly didn’t work – I’ve ignored almost all of it,” Chessell said.
“I never heard a word from Peter Costello about Crown Unmasked before, during or after publication/broadcast.
“I received another dozen emails from Packer last night. In the past he has copied in executives from competitors such as Seven and News. I hope he genuinely does make peace with Crown Unmasked and I wish him all the best.
“As Executive Editor I backed Crown Unmasked to the hilt, pushed for it to be a co-pro with 60 Minutes and backed our robust defence of those stories when Crown launched an (ultimately failed) PR campaign (supported by News Corp) to discredit us.
“No other newsrooms would have had the courage to run Crown Unmasked. Certainly not The Australian.”
In the emails, Packer refers to the Crown Unmasked investigation by The Age’s investigative reporter Nick McKenzie as “the best story of the year”.
Over the past two years, Crown has been the subject of three state-based inquiries in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia. All three confirmed poor conduct by Crown and led to Packer selling his 37 per cent stake in Crown to private equity firm Blackstone for $3.3 billion.
“Crown Unmasked was a great story and Nine should be very proud of Crown Unmasked. Well done to all involved. I mean that”, Packer wrote in an email, according to the report.
“I will always be ashamed that some of the bad things that happened at Crown happened on my watch. I regret all that a lot and am trying to do better in my Act 3. Nick McKenzie definitely knew more about what was really happening at Crown than I did. My bad obviously and I have deep regret about my shortcomings as Crown chairman.”
Crown Resorts and James Packer have been approached for comment.
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