Minister met with gambling bosses 'zero times'. But staff records shed new light

The Canberra Times has analysed official documents released under freedom of information, showing gambling companies and their lobby groups met with Ms Rowland's office more than a dozen times.

That's not including the meetings with sporting codes, horse and greyhound racing bodies or representatives of the free-to-air television industry, or social media companies that profit from gambling ads.

The minister, who is under pressure to ban gambling advertising, hit back at independent MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel for mistakenly accusing her of meeting with gambling executives "66 times in six months".

"That is not what those FOI documents uncovered," Ms Rowland told the Parliament on Tuesday.

"In fact, the documents will show I met zero times. Zero times with gambling executives, and we will continue to go about this process with the facts in an orderly way, because facts are important here."

The fiery outburst came as public health advocates - and some Labor MPs - urged Ms Rowland to honour the legacy of the late member for Dunkley Peta Murphy, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into gambling that recommended a total advertising ban.

Instead, the government is considering a partial ban that the inquiry report found would be ineffective, while the Coalition wants to ban gambling ads from during live sport.

The minister was answering a question from independent Curtin MP Kate Chaney, which said: "I understand there are AFL executives in the House today. Is it true that the government continues to water down its proposed gambling reform because of pressure from the powerful broadcast media, sports codes and gambling companies against the wishes of the Australian community?"

The FOI documents show the minister sent her staffers to meet with Sportsbet, Crown, Betfair, PointsBet, Entain, BlueBet, Betr and Responsible Wagering Australia. But she did not meet with these companies personally.

Ms Rowland has been at pains to avoid further accusations of being too close to the gambling industry, after revelations Sportsbet donated $19,000 to her 2022 election campaign prompted calls for her to resign.

The documents reveal that she met eight times with public health advocates pushing for a blanket gambling advertising ban.

The minister also met with Channel Seven, Channel Nine, the AFL and NRL, Ms Murphy and crossbench MPs.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock forced a vote on the issue in the Senate on Wednesday, with a motion for a full ban on gambling ads to be phased in over three years.

It was defeated 25:15 as Labor and the Coalition voted against the motion, which drew support from the Greens and several crossbencher senators.

Senator Pocock said "every parent in the country would scoff" at the gambling lobby's claim that its advertising did not normalise betting among children.

"The evidence shows up that 75 per cent of young people, of children now think that gambling is just a normal part of enjoying sport," he told the chamber.

"What can we expect to happen when they hit 18, when they can actually gamble, even though we're hearing that 16, 17 year olds already place bets?"

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young blasted the government and opposition for "weasel words and excuses .. about why they can't make the hard call and have the guts to stop advertising."

"You just have to think about the amount of lobbying that the Labor Party and the Liberal Party have had from the gambling industry over years," she said.

"Dinners. Donations. The Labor Party is addicted to gambling. The Liberal and Labor parties are addicted to gambling donations."

Ms Rowland said in a statement that the government was still consulting on its gambling reforms and would announce its response to the parliamentary inquiry "in due course".

"The Albanese government is firmly committed to minimising harms from online wagering," the statement said.

"The status quo of online wagering advertising is untenable."