Minister's Words To Gambling Reform Advocate 'Shocking'.
Communications Minister Anika Wells is under fire from a host of advocates and crossbenchers for telling a previous gaming addict to persuade betting companies about reforms, not her.
Kate Seselja got rid of a pokies addiction that practically led to her taking her own life.
Ms Seselja stated Ms Wells told her throughout a conference in August 2025 it was not the minister who required convincing about betting reforms however the betting companies, television networks and sporting codes that from gaming.
"I was flabbergasted," Ms Seselja told AAP.
"To be asked if I had attempted to have conferences with them, as a lived experience advocate, was dreadful.
"To have that level of detach to the truth of betting harm faced by millions of Australians, to suggest that people with lived experience go consult with these predators, made me lose belief in the political system."
Fellow advocate Anna Bardsley from the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts (GHLEE), who also participated in the conference, supported the exchange.
Ms Wells' workplace did not reject the remark was made, stating the minister invited the opportunity to meet the 2 supporters to listen to their experience with betting harm.
A spokesperson indicated Labor government measures consisting of the intro of the self-exclusion register BetStop, a ban on credit cards for online betting and changes to cautioning taglines after ads.
"The Australian government takes seriously our obligation to protect Australians, especially young and vulnerable people, from the damages of online betting," the representative said.
Independent MP Kate Chaney branded the minister's comments a betrayal of Australians experiencing gambling harm, saying they were "stunning but regrettably not unexpected".
"Being told to lobby the gaming market yourself, after a decade of vigorous advocacy and almost losing your life to addiction, is a profound failure of management," she said.
Ms Seselja said staff from the interaction minister's office told her to keep defending reforms during a subsequent meeting in March.
"I in fact broke down and lost it at the staffer, because I said to her, if you're not going to do your task, then resource GHLEE to do it," Ms Seselja said.
"People are passing away and nobody is stopping the carnage."
Independent senator David Pocock explained Ms Seselja's recount as deeply uncomfortable, while independent MP Monique Ryan assaulted the government for stopping working to take responsibility for the issue or stand up to beneficial interests.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief supporter Tim Costello branded the remarks and inactiveness on the issue "a total failure of government", including he was gobsmacked the federal government had not reacted to a gambling harm report launched nearly 1000 days earlier.
The landmark report into betting harm handed down in June 2023 by late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended a phase-out of marketing, suppressing temptations and an overarching nationwide harm-reduction framework.