Members of the crossbench have called for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s resignation following revelations she received large donations from Sportsbet in the lead-up to her election last year.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who is leading the push, moved a motion in Parliament Thursday after question time for Rowland to stand down, or have the prime minister intervene, for accepting a string of gifts and donations from the online gambling industry before the 2022 federal election.
“I’ve made the point, I hope, as clear as needs to be made that the minister is completely and utterly conflicted. Completely and utterly conflicted,” Wilkie said.
“And even if she wasn’t so patently conflicted, she clearly has made such grievous errors of judgment that surely she’s not fit to sit on the frontbench as a minister in this government.”
Earlier on Thursday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rowland, whose portfolio in government makes key gambling policy decisions, received $19,000 in donations from Sportsbet on the eve of last year’s federal election.
In addition to the donation, Sportsbet paid for an $8960 dinner at Sydney’s Rockpool in support of Rowland’s election campaign in March 2022, before giving a further $10,000 to Rowland’s election campaign again in May.
The call for Rowland to explain herself or be stood down in Parliament was supported by the Greens and seconded by independent MP Zoe Daniel. Daniel told the chamber she had deep concerns over transparency and accountability, after levelling questions of her own at Rowland earlier in the afternoon.
“And the concern, obviously, to state the obvious, is that these kinds of donations can have a potential influence on decision-making,” Daniel said.
“That can be very subtle, when a member is attending the kinds of events over time that [Wilkie] referenced, that can lead to personal relationships and a slippage of the kinds of ethics and integrity that I’m talking about.”
Responding to Daniel earlier that afternoon, Rowland said she remained “committed” to reducing the harms of online gambling. Later in the day the government’s leader of the House, Tony Burke, came to her defence as well.
“Let me say, without a doubt, the minister for communications is a person of extraordinary ability and impeccable integrity,” Burke said, after saying the calls didn’t speak to whether or not the minister had breached the ministerial code of conduct, and insisted she hadn’t given betting companies favourable treatment since entering office.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie responded to Burke by claiming that Rowland could be exposed to a breach of section 3.21 of the code of conduct, which says ministers cannot “seek or accept” any kind of benefit or “other valuable consideration” while “performing or not performing” any of their duties as minister.
In a statement, the Alliance for Gambling Reform’s chief advocate Tim Costello backed the calls for Rowland’s resignation.
He said the public could “no longer have faith” in Rowland’s ability to carry out her responsibilities as a “key decision-maker” on policies impacting Sportsbet after she has taken their money.
“Be it a conflict of interest or even a perceived conflict of interest, the minister must not stay in her role where she is responsible for the regulation of online gambling advertising,” Costello said.
“Surely the prime minister must hold his ministers to account as stated in his own code of conduct for ministers and take action against this minister if she does not stand down.
“There is white-hot anger among the public on the tsunami of sports-betting advertisements that are bombarding our kids and warping our sporting culture. Yet this minister has had little interest in considering any real reforms.”
