Kate Chaney MP says donations to Minister Rowland from Sportsbet create a clear conflict (9 February 2023)
Kate Chaney MP said she was outraged to find out today that the Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland accepted nearly $19,000 in donations from gambling giant Sportsbet ahead of the 2022 elections, as well as extensive hospitality from Tabcorp during both this term and the last term of Parliament.
“Minister Rowland has told us that she is leading the charge in addressing the harm created by online gambling, but hasn’t told us that she is accepting big bucks from one of the key players in causing this harm. How can the community believe she is acting in the interests of vulnerable people when the gambling industry is buying influence?”
Ms Chaney is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs which is conducting an inquiry into online gambling.
“This incident exposes fundamental problems in two areas – donation transparency and gambling regulation.
Because $9,000 was an in-kind donation of a fundraising dinner and $10,000 was under the $14,500 limit, neither was disclosed. We need real-time disclosure with a much lower cap and we need to close the loopholes in our disclosure regime. People have a right to make their own decisions about potential influence before voting.”
“Gambling regulation is currently designed to serve the gambling industry, not protect vulnerable people. We have a complex complaints-based regulatory regime, putting the onus on the public to make complaints. The self-exclusion register, celebrated as a significant improvement driven by Minister Rowland, similarly puts the onus on the individual to self-exclude.”
“There is clearly a perceived conflict of interest here and this is potentially in breach of section 3.24 of the Ministerial Code of Conduct. The Minister was asked to explain how this was not a conflict of interest during Question Time today and did not answer the question.”
“The Australian public deserves to hear why the Minister and the Government think this is appropriate. We cannot rebuild trust in our democracy if Ministers accept donations that so clearly have the potential to influence regulation.”
“The Government needs to show commitment to rebuilding trust through actions not just words.”
