Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland insists she will not accept donations from gambling companies in the future, as she conceded the public “expect better” from her and fellow politicians.
Key points:
- Nine Newspapers revealed Sportsbet made two donations to Michelle Rowland’s election campaign
- The Minister said she would not accept donations from Sportsbet again
- Ms Rowland said she is taking action to curb problem gambling
Earlier this month, Ms Rowland stared down demands to quit after Nine Newspapers revealed betting company Sportsbet had paid $8,960 for a dinner to support her election campaign in March last year, and made another donation of $10,000 in the days before the May poll.
As communications minister, Ms Rowland has responsibility for online gambling policy.
In response to a question on the ABC’s Q&A program, the Member for Greenway in Sydney’s west argued she had not broken any rules around political donations.
But, she did admit her reputation had been brought into question.
“I want to acknowledge that transparency and accountability is important to Australians,” Ms Rowland said.
“Australians always expect better when it comes to this area, even when no rules have been broken.
“I respect that and I think that that is a reasonable position to hold.”
When pressed further on whether she would ever accept similar donations in future, Ms Rowland replied “I will not take money from Sportsbet”.
“Whilst this was compliant with all the rules, I appreciate that there need to be different levels of accountability and that there’s different community views on this matter,” she said.
“But also, I think this highlights one very important aspect and that is about disclosure of political donations.
“I think that this is an area of long overdue reform and the Albanese Government has had a long-held position, for example, of decreasing the disclosure threshold so it is a lower amount that needs to be disclosed, but also having real time reporting.
“If this conversation encourages that to be sped up and we get rules in that then I think that is a good thing and I will be participating in that discussion.”
The question was asked by Rhonda Garad, a Greens councillor on the Greater Dandenong Council.
The AEC’s Transparency Register shows Sportsbet made numerous donations to the Liberal Party, National Party and Australian Labor Party totalling more than $278,000 in 2021-2022.
The Coalition received $143,000 while $135,000 went to Labor.
Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman, sitting next to Ms Rowland on the panel, was asked whether the Coalition would continue to accept money from gambling companies given it also benefited from Sportsbet’s donations.
“There is a review actually of the donation rules happening right now under the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters,” he replied.
“What we should do is allow that committee to do its reviews and come back and make recommendations.”
Ms Rowland asked the audience to judge her on her track record since becoming Communications Minister after last year’s election, including the pending introduction of a national self-exclusion register for people wanting to be cut themselves off from gambling services.