Dallas Reginald Dempster (27 August 1941 – 21 September 2021) was an Australian businessman notable for the original development of Perth's Burswood Resort and Casino (now

Crown Perth Crown Perth (formerly Burswood Island Casino, Burswood Island Complex and Burswood Entertainment Complex) is a resort and casino located in Burswood, Western Australia, near the Swan River. The resort consists of a casino, a convention centre ...

) and the proposed

Kwinana Petrochemical Plant The Kwinana petrochemical plant was a never-realised petrochemical plant proposed in the late 1980s to be developed in Kwinana, Western Australia. In September 1986 Petrochemical Industries Company Limited (PICL), a joint venture involving compa ...

, both of which were among the Western Australian government transactions examined by the 1990–92

WA Inc Royal Commission WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie ...

. In November 2013 The '' West Australian'' newspaper named Dempster as one of Western Australia's 100 most influential business leaders (1829–2013).

Major business projects

Burswood casino

Dempster was a principal in the establishment and early development of Western Australia's only casino, Burswood Resort and Casino (now named

), in partnership with

Genting Berhad The Genting Group is a company headquartered in the Wisma Genting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It comprises the holding company Genting Berhad (), its listed subsidiaries Genting Malaysia Berhad (), Genting Plantations Berhad (), Genting Singapor ...

of Malaysia which had previous experience in casino development and associated tourism. The original resort complex included a

five-star hotel Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experie ...

, casino, recreation facilities with 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, and swimming pools on a site fronting Perth's Swan River, 3 km from the city centre. The casino, the third largest in the world, opened for business in December 1985, with other facilities progressively launched over the following two years. The adjacent Burswood Park was planned to enhance the approach to Perth from the airport. Burswood Casino and Resort committed to providing the revenue to maintain and improve the park indefinitely. Rival bidders accused Dempster of improper dealings with state premier Brian Burke prior to the awarding of the licence, but after a thorough investigation of these accusations, the WA Inc Royal Commission stated that there was no evidence of impropriety. However it noted that following the awarding of the licence, Mr Dempster, a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

member, had begun making large donations to the ruling Labor Party cause.State Law Publisher of Western Australi
Findings of WA Inc Royal Commission
Vol. 2, Ch. 8. Retrieved on 2 February 2013. Quotation: It is understandable that others should feel aggrieved by the seemingly irresistible advance of the Dempster machine after the closing date and wonder how this "inside running" could have been achieved without some impropriety somewhere. But the fact remains that despite as thorough an investigation as has been open to the Commission, no impropriety in that regard has been established."

PICL venture

In September 1986 Petrochemical Industries Company Limited (PICL), a joint venture involving companies controlled by Dempster and

Laurie Connell Lawrence Robert "Laurie" Connell (died 27 February 1996) was a Western Australian business entrepreneur. As chairman of the Rothwells merchant bank, he was well known for his dealings with the Government of Western Australia and his close relat ...

,State Law Publisher of Western Australi
Findings of WA Inc Royal Commission
Vol. 4, Ch.18. Retrieved on 9 November 2012. proposed the development of a major

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable ...

project at Kwinana, south of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, and on 2 November 1987 heads of agreement were signed by the government-owned

State Energy Commission of Western Australia The State Energy Commission of Western Australia was an Australian energy provider. It was established on 1 January 1975 as an amalgamation of the State Electricity Commission of Western Australia (established 1945) plus the Fuel and Power Co ...

and PICL for the former to supply the latter with natural gas from the state's

North West Shelf The North West Shelf is a continental shelf region of Western Australia. It includes an extensive oil and gas region off the North West Australia coast in the Pilbara region. Geology Considerable parts of the region are the highest prospective ...

at a commercially realistic price linked to the

CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

. By December 1987, though, it was becoming apparent that Connell's merchant bank Rothwells was no longer a viable financial institution, and Dempster had been unable to secure 100% debt finance for the project.State Law Publisher of Western Australi
Findings of WA Inc Royal Commission
Part IIState Law Publisher of Western Australi
Findings of WA Inc Royal Commission
Vol. 5, Ch. 21 Owing to outstanding loans to Connell and Connell-associated entities, Rothwells was short $300 million or more needed to restore its solvency and produce an acceptable balance sheet, and without these funds Rothwells would have to cease trading on its reporting date, 31 July 1988. To deal with Rothwells's impending crisis, a mid-1988 meeting involving representatives of the state government, Rothwells and Bond Corporation agreed that the government would give a discounted energy price and other guarantees to PICL so as to boost the company's value to $400 million, and Bond Corporation and the government would then purchase PICL for that price – $350 million to be paid to Connell so that he could repay $300 million of his debt to Rothwells and add $50 million of liquidity, and $50 million to Dempster for his share. Some evidence to the

WA Inc WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the Government of Western Australia, state government, which was led for much of the period by Premier of Western Australia, premier Brian Burke (Australian politician), Brian B ...

Royal Commission from government officers conflicted with Dempster's evidence, and he was found to have made a series of deliberate false statements regarding the project's viability.

Property development

In collaboration with WA ecologist and wetlands expert Tom Riggert, Dempster developed Floreat Waters Estate at

Herdsman Lake Herdsman Lake ( nys, Njookenbooro), also known as Herdsmans Lake, is a freshwater lake located on the Swan Coastal Plain, north-west of Perth, Western Australia, in the suburb of Herdsman. The main shared use path around the lake is approxima ...

, creating permanent lakes by dropping swamp levels below surrounding land, for which he received the Duke of Edinburgh Environment Award.

Personal life

He was born in

Nedlands, Western Australia Nedlands is an affluent western suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is a part of the local government areas of the City of Nedlands and the City of Perth. It is about from the Perth CBD via either Thomas Street or ...

in 1941 to Dallas Athol Dick and Eileen Olga Dempster. He was educated at

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to ...

.Sacks M. A. (ed) (1980) ''The WAY 79 Who is Who: synoptic biographies of Western Australians'' Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, W.A. , p.94 At age 15, he left school and began working at a bank, and subsequently started his life-long career as an entrepreneur working with various businessmen in Western Australia. On 21 September 2021, Dallas Dempster died at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempster, Dallas 1941 births 2021 deaths Australian businesspeople People from Western Australia People educated at Hale School