Independent MPs boycott parliament sports club, after it banned Pocock for raising gambling links

Independent MPs are quitting the Australian Parliament Sport Club in protest after Senator David Pocock was booted from the group for asking questions about its gambling sponsorships and the role of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the club’s president at Senate estimates.

A defiant Pocock on Friday said he would remain benched from the club until it reformed its sponsorship processes, escalating the independents’ campaign against gambling interests as Albanese made a lukewarm appeal for the former Wallabies captain to be allowed back in.

The saga surrounding the Australian Parliament Sports Club began last month, when independent MPs raised concerns that it had been added to the lobbyist register on September 22. Most of the club’s clients listed on the register are national sporting organisations; however, it also has clients not related to sport, including Responsible Wagering Australia, the peak gambling lobby group.

The club, run by chief executive Andy Turnbull, mainly organises morning social sport games for politicians and their staff during sitting weeks. But Responsible Wagering Australia chief executive Kai Cantwell also attends the social games, and was pictured on the sidelines this week in a report by the ABC’s Four Corners.

Some MPs’ growing discomfort about the appearance of gambling lobbyists then hit a crescendo this week, when Pocock raised concerns about the sponsorship in Senate estimates, and drew Albanese’s role as president of the club into question.

“[The prime minister is] essentially the president of a lobbying firm that lists Responsible Wagering Australia, Pfizer, Diageo and a bunch of others [as members],” Pocock said on Tuesday.

“I’m just wondering how this interacts with the ministerial code of conduct and when the [Prime Minister’s Office] was made aware of this, or when [the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet] have been made aware of this and what is happening?”

Pocock’s intervention prompted Turnbull to rebuke the senator in a private message and kick him out of the association.

“I’m just scratching my head in disbelief. We’re just a sports club. To politicise this is just strange really. It’s something we should have sorted out behind the scenes,” Turnbull said.

In texts sent to Pocock Thursday night, seen by this masthead, Turnbull said the sports club was the most “apolitical organisation in the parliament”.

“Sadly, this week you have soured 20 years of serious effort to bring a harmonious and fun environment to a small part of each sitting day.

“You chose a cheap shot that will have no effect on the outcome of your anti-gambling campaign. I am sorry it has reached this point but you have left me with no choice.”

Albanese said the club presidency “comes with the gig” of being prime minister, when asked about the situation on Friday morning.

“That’s David Pocock being David Pocock, getting himself in a story. You know, this is a voluntary organisation that raises money for charity,” Albanese.

“The amount of time I have spent on the Australian Parliament Sports Club this year is zero. I have participated in zero events in terms of sports, just because I’m a bit busy.”

In a separate statement to this masthead, Albanese said: “I’m not wasting any time on this issue. The idea that parliamentarians voluntarily playing sport has any impact equivalent to lobbying is absurd, but participation should be open to everyone.”

But independent MPs Allegra Spender and Sophie Scamps – for whom gambling is a key issue – followed Pocock out the door this week, resigning their memberships after Monique Ryan similarly quit the club over concern about its gambling links last month.

Spender called Pocock’s ejection a disgrace. “The sports club should be about politicians love of sport, not their sad addiction to the gambling lobby,” she said in a statement. “I can’t be part of a club that promotes the gambling lobby.”

Scamps said the gambling sponsorships must cease. “I am appalled that a club set up to provide parliamentarians with the opportunity for a spot of healthy recreation was advertised as an opportunity for lobbyists to rub shoulders with politicians,” she said. “I feel used.”

Earlier in the day, Pocock said he had been “shocked to learn the club was selling access to parliamentarians to companies and their representatives”.

“Being kicked out of the club for raising concerns around gambling lobbyists buying access to the club shows the influence vested interests have here in parliament and just how normalised this has become,” he said.

Cantwell, the Responsible Wagering Australia chief who often attends games, said the organisation’s sponsorship of the club had “never been about lobbying”.

“It’s about giving everyone who works in the building, not just parliamentarians, a rare chance to switch off from demanding schedules and enjoy an hour of exercise,” he said.

“RWA’s work on regulation and harm reduction happens through the proper parliamentary and regulatory processes – not on the sporting field.”

Turnbull, in a statement to this masthead on Friday afternoon, said: “If the PM says Dave Pocock should be reinstated, who am I to argue. I totally support the PM. We have got on extremely well for 20 years and I would never change that. We are simply a sports club trying to play sport.

“I repeat my first offer to Dave. Work with me and other senior members of parliament collaboratively to produce a set of rules agreed by the majority of members in a realistic period of time,” Turnbull said.

Pocock, in a later statement, said: “Even if the club reversed their decision, I wouldn’t be rejoining the Parliamentary sports club unless they undertook a transparent, open process to consider the appropriateness of all current and future sponsorships.”

NSW Labor MP for the state seat of Auburn, Lynda Voltz, who has co-ordinated the state equivalent of the club and has worked directly with Turnbull, described the situation as “an outrage”.

“Pocock has every right to ask questions in Senate estimates, and the Parliamentary Sports Club should not get to pick and choose who gets to play based on questions asked at Senate estimates,” Voltz said.

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