Australian Senator Scott Ludlam has just rolled a marble off a cliff to its doom. He's trying out the third-person VR indie game, Marble Mountain, and it's not going well.

The gaming convention PAX Australia in Melbourne is perhaps the only venue where you'll see a politician in a virtual reality headset, using a console to roll a tiny cowboy hat-wearing marble. It's the perfect place for Ludlam, however — an Australian politician gamers are actually glad to see in their world.

Walking the corridors of PAX on Oct. 31, the Australian Greens senator is stopped constantly by young men in Doom T-shirts and mums with kids clutching light sabres who want to thank him for his advocacy on technology issues.

ok #PAXAus what should we call this guy pic.twitter.com/8Q2WgYMwqw — Scott Ludlam (@SenatorLudlam) November 1, 2015

As the Australian Greens, a left-wing and environmentalist party, seek a wider stage than that offered exclusively by fights over conservation, Ludlam has been making a name for himself taking on the government over its plans for the Internet and gaming.

As the party's communications spokesperson, he's been outspoken on everything from the site blocking bill to the data retention scheme, and now, funding for the gaming industry.

Ludlam was at PAX to speak on a number of panels, and to take part in a live version of the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons as a character apparently called "Twiggy of the Forest" — a name suggested to Ludlam on Twitter in a tongue-in-cheek reference to Australian mining magnate, Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest.

He took time out from his busy questing schedule to chat with Mashable Australia about the state of video games in Australia, and to try out some games on the convention floor.

A childhood interest in gaming

Ludlam's gaming fandom started when he was a child, making his own board games and role playing games. "Me and my younger brother came up through Commodore 64 world, and then graduated to an Omega, and then to a PC," he said. "I've been gaming most of my life, until I got this ridiculous job."

The 45-year-old doesn't play as much as he used to, he said — a busy timetable gets in the way — but his housemate in Canberra just bought them a Playstation 4, so that may now serve as his post-parliament debriefing.

What would a full-time senator play in his spare time? He's keen to try some independent titles, as well as the much anticipated Fallout 4. "It looks exquisite, so I'll probably have a go at that as well," he said.

Although they lurk in the shadows, Ludlam doesn't believe he's the Australian parliament's lone video game fan. He speculated that Labor politician Ed Husic is also a gamer, although he doesn't know what he plays. "There's more than a handful," he said. "Just demographically and statistically, you'd have to assume there's more than two. I hope so."

Australian Greens senator for Western Australia, Scott Ludlam. Image: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Gamers need to pay attention to politics

Ludlam is well aware that if the Australian gaming industry is to succeed, it's going to need money.

In 2012, the then-Labor government established the National Program for Excellence in the Arts, which was intended to pump millions into the burgeoning local industry. In 2014, the new conservative government cut the entirety of what remained in the fund. Likewise, in 2015, the National Program for Artistic Excellence under the direction of Arts Minister George Brandis said it would grant no funds to digital games.

In the UK, on the other hand, the government recently pledged £4 million for new gaming projects.

Ludlam said the lesson is that gamers should pay attention to national cultural policy in general, so that gaming gets the support and cash it requires to thrive. "There's just little insults like that that can be really damaging," Ludlam said, referring to Brandis' decision.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from the centre-right Liberal Party loves words such as "innovation" and "digital," so maybe there's hope in the near future for the local gaming industry.

"This is one instance where having a prime minister who is at least digitally literate will help," Ludlam said. "They're saying they're interested in innovation and startups and technology and digital tools, and this is a big part of that community with a good story to tell."

In any case, it's hard to argue with the numbers. It's estimated the video game industry will be worth US$91.5 billion globally in 2015 — why shouldn't Australia have a slice of that?

Open the discussion with politicians

To advocate for their cause, gamers are going to have to speak in a language politicians understand, Ludlam suggested.

A senate inquiry he convened in June, "Future of Australia's video game development industry," is a good example of an opportunity for game developers to advocate for their industry. "It's a format and procedure that members of parliament are really comfortable with," Ludlam said.

Nevertheless, the industry needs to "hack things a little" to get their message across. Politicians should be invited to visit Melbourne's The Arcade, for example, a collaborative workspace for game developers. "This is not a story you can really tell on paper, you need to show people," Ludlam said.

On a gaming funding panel during PAX, there was a suggestion politicians should be forced to join a LAN or multiplayer video game party in order to "smash some n00bs" — gaming parlance for "beating newbies." Ludlam suggested not going quite so far: "We're going to nurture some n00bs, and we need to involve some n00bs, and maybe we end up smashing them, I'm not sure."

The games are worth the investment

According to Ludlam, if politicians were given the opportunity to play, they couldn't help but be impressed with the diversity of games on the market. "A big studio production like Fallout [would] make their eyes pop out. This stuff is amazing, it's cinematic, it's engaging and it's making a handful of people a shit ton of money," he said.

Ludlam also said politicians would be surprised by the local industry and how much it is thriving, while still being in need of support. "Then let's have a look at what some of the indie developers are doing here in Australia," he said. "Let's have a look at some of the amazingly creative grassroots stuff that's being nurtured here."

So, will Ludlam show his allegiance to the gaming world by indulging in some Star Wars cosplay at any point? Unfortunately not. "As much as I'm really blissing out on some of the exquisite cosplay here, I'm probably not going to," he said. "The rule in politics ... is never ever let your MP go out in a funny hat."