“Back in 1997, when Crown casino opened its massive Southbank ‘entertainment centre’, I was possibly its best-known public critic. It was a time for compulsory cheering after Crown’s lavish opening, but I was disturbed. I said it is too big and too powerful, with so much money flowing that politicians and media will not even know when they have been bought. This memory was triggered as I read the findings of the Finkelstein Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence.”

“In one of the most remarkable developments, certainly since the Second World War, an Australian prime minister has leaked a highly confidential security document against an American president. Think about that. On the international stage, Scott Morrison put his own domestic political interests ahead of maintaining public trust between Canberra and its most important strategic and treaty partner, the United States. ”

“When will Scott Morrison and the Liberal National Party realise that three-word slogans are not a policy; indeed, they may not even be an effective way to deliver the desired marketing message? In the past two elections we were bombarded with ‘Jobs and growth’. Absent any detail, we were left asking, Which growth? In what sectors? On what time line? The latest slogan covering the absence of policy detail is ‘Technology not taxes’. ”