Minister's Words To Gambling Reform Advocate 'Stunning'.

Communications Minister Anika Wells is under fire from a host of supporters and crossbenchers for telling a previous gambling addict to encourage wagering business about reforms, not her.


Kate Seselja overcame a pokies dependency that almost resulted in her taking her own life.


Ms Seselja stated Ms Wells told her throughout a meeting in August 2025 it was not the minister who required convincing about gambling reforms but the betting business, television networks and sporting codes that generated profits from gaming.


"I was flabbergasted," Ms Seselja informed AAP.


"To be asked if I had actually tried to have meetings with them, as a lived experience supporter, was horrific.


"To have that level of disconnect to the reality of gambling harm dealt with by countless Australians, to recommend that people with lived experience go consult with these predators, made me lose belief in the political system."


Fellow supporter Anna Bardsley from the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts (GHLEE), who likewise attended the conference, corroborated the exchange.


Ms Wells' workplace did not reject the remark was made, saying the minister welcomed the chance to meet the two supporters to listen to their experience with betting harm.


A spokesperson pointed to Labor federal government procedures including the introduction of the self-exclusion register BetStop, a restriction on credit cards for online gambling and changes to warning taglines after ads.


"The Australian government takes seriously our obligation to safeguard Australians, especially young and vulnerable people, from the harms of online gaming," the representative said.


Independent MP Kate Chaney branded the minister's remarks a betrayal of Australians experiencing betting harm, saying they were "stunning however unfortunately not surprising".


"Being told to lobby the betting market yourself, after a years of steadfast advocacy and almost losing your life to addiction, is an of management," she stated.


Ms Seselja stated personnel from the communication minister's workplace informed her to keep combating for reforms throughout a subsequent conference 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 job, then resource GHLEE to do it," Ms Seselja stated.


"People are dying and no one is stopping the carnage."


Independent senator David Pocock described Ms Seselja's recount as deeply troubling, while independent MP Monique Ryan attacked the government for stopping working to take responsibility for the issue or withstand vested interests.


Alliance for Gambling Reform chief supporter Tim Costello branded the comments and inaction on the problem "a total failure of federal government", including he was gobsmacked the federal government had actually 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 advised a phase-out of marketing, curbing temptations and an overarching nationwide harm-reduction structure.