Australia’s Star Entertainment Group has announced two new additions to its Board of Directors as it continues its renewal program in the wake of recent findings of unsuitability in New South Wales and Queensland.
The latest additions, both named as non-executive directors, are Mrs Deborah Page AM and Ms Toni Thornton, who will join recent appointees Anne Ward and David Foster on the new look Board.
Thornton will join immediately upon receipt of necessary regulatory approvals while Page will join from 1 February 2023.
“On behalf of the Board, I welcome Deborah and Toni during this time of significant organizational and cultural change,” said Star Chairman Ben Heap.
“They bring a fresh set of skills and diversity of experience to our Board. Deborah and Toni will each play an important role as we continue to remediate and transform The Star.”
Page, a Chartered Accountant, is described by Star as an experienced company director and chair with broad industry experience spanning various ASX listed, private, public sector and regulated entities including in the property, utilities, insurance, technology, renewables and funds management sectors.
She currently Chairman of Pendal Group Limited and a Non-Executive Director of Brickworks Limited, Growthpoint Properties Australia Limited and Service Stream Limited.
Thornton is described as an experienced executive with more than 15 years’ corporate finance and strategic advisory experience, and 13 years’ experience in audit at Board-level.
She is currently a Non-Executive Director of G8 Education Limited, CS Energy (a Queensland Government energy company), and significant private companies including Millovate Pty Ltd (a beneficial enterprise established to manage development of a major precinct in the Moreton Bay Priority Development Area) and Habitat Early Learning.
She was previously Non-Executive Director of South Bank Corporation (the development and management authority for Brisbane’s South Bank precinct), Devcorp, Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation and Triathlon Queensland.
Their appointments come after an independent monitor appointed by Australia’s Star Entertainment Group to oversee delivery of its remediation program stated last month that the program appears sufficiently developed to proceed.
Star has been found unsuitable to hold its casino licenses in NSW and Queensland following a series of inquiries which uncovered failures around the company’s anti-money laundering controls.
In particular, the NSW Bell Report into The Star Sydney detailed a wide range of reasons for finding The Star unsuitable – among them the illegal use of China UnionPay cards to fund gambling at The Star Sydney, Star’s dealing with Asian junket operator Suncity Group and the company’s response to independent audits of its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) controls.
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