Independent MP refers Labor's gambling reform to corruption watchdog over industry donations

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Independent MP refers Labor's gambling reform to corruption watchdog over industry donations

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Andrew Wilkie says $4 million in gambling-company donations and a Sportsbet-funded dinner for a former minister raise questions serious enough for the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The government rejects any suggestion of influence. Separately, the same week saw Labour and the Coalition finalise a deal on a different bill: the one that makes big tech pay for news.Independent MP Andrew Wilkie referred the federal government’s gambling reform policy to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday, telling reporters at Parliament House that industry donations may have improperly shaped the legislation. “This morning, I referred the gambling reform matter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission,” Wilkie said. “My concern [is] that individuals in the federal government, when formulating gambling reform policy, have been improperly influenced by individuals in the private sector. This has resulted in policy so clearly at odds with research, public opinion, and the public interest that the implementation of such policy could be characterised, in my opinion, as serious corruption.”Appreciate the newsletter but aren’t ready to pay for a subscription? Grab us a beer or snag the exclusive ad spot at the top of next week's newsletter.A sitting MP has now put the word “corruption” on the record about legislation his own government is actively trying to pass. What hasn’t happened is any confirmation the watchdog will act on it. The NACC doesn’t confirm or deny whether it takes up a referral, and nothing reported this week says it has taken Wilkie’s. So far, what’s confirmed is the referral itself and the political pressure now sitting alongside the bill.The money behind the complaintWilkie’s referral leans on a figure first reported by Nine newspapers in late July: gambling companies donated $4 million to the Labour Party between 2021 and 2025. Eight other independent MPs back his concern that the bill is inadequate. Northern Sydney MP Sophie Scamps went further than the donation figure alone. “It’s not only those $4 million in donations over the last five years; it’s lavish gifts,” she said. “We heard about the lavish birthday party that was put on for the former communications minister; we know about the tickets to sporting events.”The former minister is Michelle Rowland. In 2023 she was dined by Responsible Wagering Australia, the lobby group representing Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Bet365. A year earlier, she’d accepted a $19,000 donation from Sportsbet directly. Neither detail is new reporting: what’s new is an MP asking the corruption watchdog to weigh whether it amounts to more than a bad look.Under Labour’s proposed reforms, betting ads would be capped at three per hour between 6am and 8:30pm, with a ban on gambling advertising at live sports, in stadiums and on player jerseys. Those are genuine restrictions. They’re also well short of the 31 recommendations delivered by a 2023 parliamentary enquiry chaired by the late Labour MP Peta Murphy, which called for gambling advertising to be phased out entirely and drew support from across the political divide. Few of those 31 recommendations have been implemented.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the referral in parliament the same day. He didn’t dispute Wilkie’s right to make it. “Our government is determined to get the policy right,” he said. “We have exchanged views across the parliament, including with crossbenchers and including with the opposition, and we will get it right. I don’t suggest members on any side of this debate have been influenced, other than by how we deal with a complex issue.” Wilkie points to the donations as the explanation. Albanese points to a complicated policy area negotiated in good faith with the crossbench and the opposition. Both accounts are now on the public record, and neither has been tested by an actual investigation.A different bill, the same two negotiatorsThe gambling fight wasn’t the only thing moving through parliament this week. Albanese and opposition leader Angus Taylor finalised amendments to the News Media Bargaining Incentive bill after meeting on Monday, ahead of its introduction to parliament on Thursday. The legislation forces large digital platforms, those earning $250 million or more a year from search or social media services in Australia, to pay a 2.5% levy if they don’t strike voluntary commercial deals with news publishers.That 2.5% figure is itself a retreat from the government’s original plan: a flat 2.25% levy on a platform’s Australian gross revenue, announced last week, which prompted enough pushback from the Coalition to send Albanese and Taylor back to the negotiating table. What came out the other side reinstated a cap limiting any single media company to 25% of the total levy payout after the government had flagged scrapping it. The minimum number of deals a platform must sign to avoid the levy rose during ...

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