But Anne Ward, Star Entertainment's new chairwoman as of Monday, says management at The Star Sydney could be transformed in months.
A NSW Independent Casino Commission inquiry is examining Star's Sydney casino operations two years after a probe found damning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings at the venue.
The commission's probe, recently opened to the public, has heard of ongoing systems failures at the casino, which is currently under independent management, and internal messages about "war" with the regulator.
At the inquiry, Ms Ward said she backed predecessor David Foster's assessment that the casino was not presently suitable to be licensed.
Star's board ousted Mr Foster as chairman over the weekend.
Former Star Entertainment chairman David Foster was removed from the role over the weekend. (HANDOUT/NSW INDEPENDENT CASINO COMMISSION)
"He (Foster) did not consider that Star Entertainment and The Star were presently suitable, do you agree?" Adam  Bell, SC, heading the inquiry, asked.
"Yes I agree," Ms Ward replied.
Asked about prospects of satisfactory management after the independent regime at the casino ended in September, Ms Ward said: "With the right leadership, The Star can be transformed and possibly within six months".
On what a "transformed Star" looked like, Ms Ward said her vision was for a legally compliant company with strong leadership at all levels.
Present leadership was in a similar position to 2022, the inquiry was told, with Star needing a new permanent CEO, CFO, chief legal officer, chief transformation officer, chief customer and product officer, and chief of staff.
Ms Ward, taken to an email she sent to board colleagues, conceded she previously considered Star's leadership team "fairly dysfunctional and siloed".
But she said her "current thoughts" were that "there has been improvement in functionality" at the casino since July, 2023, when she made the comments.
Corporate transformation at Star also meant an "open and honest and constructive relationship with the relevant regulators", Ms Ward said.
The inquiry has previously heard Mr Foster sent ex-CEO Robbie Cooke a message that "they are prepping for war we better do the same" in reference to a meeting the casino's commission-appointed manager planned with law firms on the future of the licence.
Deborah Page, another director at Star, said the company "absolutely" ended up antagonising the regulator and could have been clearer in January, 2024, on areas that needed improvement.
Ms Page apologised for language used in an email when she wrote of her worry about disturbing "the hornet's nest" with documents intended for the commission.
"I was sending a message that 'please make sure that before this goes you're happy that it's in the right tone in the way we intended,'" she said on Monday.
"I've not done myself any justice in how I've worded it."
The commission suspended the casino's licence in October, 2022, and issued a $100 million fine after revelations of a gang-linked junket operator running an illicit cage and Chinese debit-card transactions masked as hotel expenses.
The current inquiry was sparked after the commission was left unsatisfied by governance and risk management at the casino, which has operated since 1997.
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