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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Panels & Presentations
Presented by
Assoc. Prof. Simone Rhodda
Dr Kelly Feng MNZM
Presentation
Preparing the Frontline for a New Wave of Gambling Harm: Workforce Development, Equity, and System Readiness for Online Gambling
The rapid expansion and normalisation of online gambling and casino-style products is creating a new wave of harm that is already being felt across communities and frontline services. Health and social sector workers are increasingly encountering gambling-related distress alongside mental health challenges, family harm, financial strain, and suicide risk, yet many report limited training, tools, and system support to respond effectively. This presentation positions workforce development as a critical and urgent lever for gambling harm minimisation, particularly in the context of widening inequities.
Drawing on the development of the Addressing Inequalities: Respond to Gambling Harm project, this keynote explores how community voices and frontline primary care and social service workforces have consistently raised concerns about the scale, complexity, and invisibility of gambling harm, particularly for Asian, Māori, and Pacific communities. These concerns reflect a sector bracing for what many describe as a “tsunami” of harm driven by 24/7 digital access, aggressive marketing, and evolving gambling technologies that outpace current workforce capability and system design.
Led by Asian Family Services in partnership with Mapu Maia and PGF Services, the Addressing Inequalities: Respond to Gambling Harm project responds by embedding gambling harm capability within everyday frontline practice. The initiative focuses on long-term workforce development through an accredited e-learning programme and a centralised digital platform providing practical tools, culturally grounded resources, and clear pathways for identification, brief intervention, and referral. Designed through co-design with lived experience contributors, community stakeholders, and frontline practitioners, Equity moves beyond one-off training to advocate for sustainable, system-integrated solutions.
This presentation reflects on early insights from implementation, including shifts in workforce confidence, shared language, and cross-sector readiness, and argues for equity-informed workforce development as essential infrastructure in the face of accelerating gambling technologies. By reframing gambling harm as a structural public health issue rather than an individual failure, the keynote calls for investment in durable, culturally responsive workforce capability as a cornerstone of future gambling harm prevention and response.
Presented by
Mapu Maia
Panel
Lead With Love
Presented by Mapu Maia, we are honoured to feature a dedicated presentation on the "Lead with Love" campaign. This powerful Pacific-led initiative focuses on de-stigmatisation. By shifting the narrative from shame to connection, Mapu Maia demonstrates how we can empower individuals to seek help while upholding the mana (spiritual power) of our families and communities.
Who's on the panel?
Tuala Pesio Ah-Honi is of Samoan and Chinese descent, hailing from the villages of Leauva’a Upolu, Fusi Safotulafai Savai’i, and Leulumoega Tuai. Born in Samoa and raised in South Auckland, she brings over 24 years of experience working with Pacific communities in public health, gambling harm, addictions, youth services, and community development.
Tuala serves as CEO of Mapu Maia, a national Pacific mental health and addictions provider. She leads a multidisciplinary Pacific workforce delivering culturally grounded services in mental health, gambling harm minimisation, addictions, Rainbow support, youth programmes, research, and public health.
Tuala serves on several governance and advisory roles including Pacific Reference Group, Ministry of Social Development of New Zealand and previously co-chaired DRUA, championing Pacific-led solutions. She is guided by the Samoan proverb: “E fofo le alamea le alamea,” reflecting communal self-determination.
Sauvao Mele Siaosi Pese is a New Zealand-born Samoan, mother of four and grandmother of ten. Drawing on over three decades of lived experience with gambling addiction, she now supports others on their recovery journeys.
Since 2023, Mele has led a support group for recovering gamblers, running weekly sessions that blend care, guidance, and humour. At Mapu Maia, a Pacific-led NGO, she works within an integrated model to provide holistic, culturally grounded support.
Mele also serves on the National Lived Experience Advisory Group, representing both Mapu Maia and the wider Pacific community. Outside of work, she enjoys marathon walks, travelling, reading, and Pacific Toastmasters, while cherishing her role as a loving family member and friend.
Jeremy Logan is the co-owner and managing director of Dioscuri, a strategic consultancy agency based in Aotearoa New Zealand that works with indigenous and vulnerable communities to build equity and deliver stronger outcomes. Of Pacific descent, he has experienced firsthand many of the challenges facing vulnerable communities and has dedicated his business to supporting them by developing sustainable and equitable solutions.
With over 15 years of experience in marketing and strategic consultancy, his expertise focuses on implementing innovative solutions grounded in cultural competency, partnering public and private organisations with communities to co-create meaningful outcomes. This unique approach has seen great success, and he currently works with a number of NGOs and Government organisations across New Zealand.
Taloto Rufo Pupualii, was born and raised in Samoa with ancestral ties to villages of Fusi Safotulafai and Sapapalii Savaii, Apai Manono, and Falese’ela Lefaga where she received her oratory title Taloto. She worked as a primary and secondary school teacher before relocating to New Zealand in 2000, where she has lived ever since. A devoted grandmother, Taloto Rufo is committed to teaching and upholding Christian, Cultural and Professional Values, guiding her children and grandchildren to embody Tautua (service) in all aspects of their lives.
She is currently the National Public Health Manager at Mapu Maia, with over 15 years of experience in the addictions and mental health sectors. She is a respected Pacific public health advocate, particularly in the gambling harm space.
Taloto has worked across health promotion, community-led action, stakeholder engagement, policy advocacy and lobbying, and culturally grounded clinical interventions. Guided by Pacific values, she ensures public health responses are community-driven and responsive to the needs of Pacific peoples.
