{"id":777002606,"date":"2023-02-21T14:07:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777002606"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:26:51","slug":"australian-minister-denies-breaking-rules-with-gambling-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australian-minister-denies-breaking-rules-with-gambling-donations","title":{"rendered":"Australian minister denies breaking rules with gambling donations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

But Michelle Rowland says she won’t accept donations from gambling companies again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Federal communications minister Michelle Rowland continues to deny having broken any rules by receiving gambling donations but says she won’t do so again. Nine Newspapers had revealed that Sportsbet paid AU$8,960 for a dinner<\/strong> in support of Rowland’s election campaign<\/a> last March and another AU$10,000 just before the poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on ABC’s Q+A programme, Rowland said she will not accept future donations from gambling companies<\/strong> and acknowledged that the public expects better from her and other politicians. She argued that she had not violated any political donation rules<\/strong> but conceded that her reputation had been called into question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rowland stressed the importance of transparency and accountability and called for reform of political donation disclosure rules. She also highlighted her track record as communications minister, including her efforts to introduce a national self-exclusion register for individuals seeking to exclude themselves from gambling services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Transparency Register showed that Sportsbet made donations to the Liberal Party, National Party<\/strong> and Australian Labor Party <\/strong>amounting to over AU$278,000 in 2021-2022. The Coalition received AU$143,000 while Labor received AU$135,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if the Coalition would continue to accept donations from gambling companies, shadow communications minister David Coleman, who was sitting next to Rowland on the panel, suggested that the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters should be allowed to review donation rules and make recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the news came to light, independent MP Andrew Wilkie<\/strong>, who has been advocating for stringent gambling reforms, called for Rowland to be sacked for her \u201cshocking errors of judgment.\u201d He said it was incomprehensible that Rowland accepted donations from an online gambling company while seeking to become communications minister. However, Anthony Albanese<\/strong> backed Michelle Rowland<\/a> and said she had his \u201cabsolute and total confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But Michelle Rowland says she won’t accept donations from gambling companies again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has publicly committed to discontinuing the acceptance of political donations from gambling entities, a decision made amidst public scrutiny despite her assertion of adherence to current regulations. This development highlights critical discussions surrounding political funding transparency and the perceived influence of the iGaming sector on legislative processes, particularly as the Minister champions a national self-exclusion register. The broader Australian political establishment faces increasing calls for comprehensive electoral donation reform.","focusai_entities":"Michelle Rowland, Sportsbet, Nine Newspapers, ABC, Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), Liberal Party, National Party, Australian Labor Party, Coalition, David Coleman, Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Andrew Wilkie, Anthony Albanese","focusai_location":"Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Operator Lobbying Impact","query":"What specific adjustments to B2C operator lobbying strategies and political engagement protocols are anticipated in Australia following Minister Rowland's commitment to cease accepting gambling industry donations, and how might this influence future legislative outcomes?"},{"label":"Donation Reform Outlook","query":"Given the heightened scrutiny on political donations from the iGaming sector, what is the revised outlook for the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters' review and the potential acceleration or modification of political donation disclosure reforms in Australia?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,154],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777002606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legislation-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777002606"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777002644,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777002606\/revisions\/777002644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777002606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777002606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777002606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}