Communications minister held to account for lavish gambling-sponsored lunch
A lavish lunch held for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland by gambling executives highlights the intense lobbying conducted by the gambling industry.
Responsible Wagering Australia – which represents Sportsbet, Ladbrokes, and Bet365, in what was described as a ‘policy briefing’.
The November 16 lunch was held at Society Restaurant and was teed up by Labor’s corporate fundraising arm known as the Federal Labor Business Forum.
Rumour has it that membership to the Forum costs up to $110,000 per year and offers varying degrees of tiered access to key politicians.
Following the lunch, Rowland faced calls to resign while defending $19,000 in donations from Sportsbet on the eve of last year’s federal election.
Donations included an $8960 dinner at Rockpool.
Rowland said that while no laws were broken, people did “expect better” of their ministers.
“I respect that, and I think that that is a reasonable position to hold.”
Rowland said she would no longer accept donations from Sportsbet.
The problem for Ms Rowland is that the Melbourne lunch was not recorded on her parliamentary register of interests, which makes possible conflicts of interest public.
Geoffrey Watson, SC, who led the prosecution by NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption said the lunch raised serious questions.
“The point about all of this is, for too long, we’ve permitted a system under which governments – it’s always the government of the day – have been able to fundraise off the back of controlling power,” Watson said.
“It seems to be selling government knowledge to a select few. It seems to be a system under which unless the people paying the money are fools, they’re gaining access to information or influence in return for a donation or the cost of a dinner. Does that sound right to you? To me, it’s sort of sickening.”
Rowland reiterated no laws were broken and cited the work the government was doing to minimise gambling damage including a self-exclusion register, mandatory classifications for video games with gambling-like content and legislation to ban credit cards for online gambling,
“The minister complies with all relevant guidelines for both declarations and travel, including the register of members’ interests, and the parliamentary business resources framework,” the spokesman said.
According to the AFR, sources at the lunch did not like what they heard from Rowland.
Prior to last year’s election, gambling lobbyists were substantial sponsors of major political parties.
Financial Review analysis showed that in 2022-23, Sportsbet made $312,000 in political payments, split almost evenly between Labor and the Coalition parties.
Tabcorp paid $115,000 to Labor and just over $100,000 to Coalition parties, according to its official AEC filings, and Responsible Wagering Australia paid more than $70,000 to Labor and $20,000 to the National Party.
Jonathan Jackson, 13th November 2023
