Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I wholeheartedly second this motion. I rise to speak in support of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment)Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2022, because this bill will provide just an inch of accountability. It will put the onus on gambling companies. As the member for Clark said, back in 2018—I think it's the latest figure—$25 billion was lost by Australians, and an estimated 7.2 per cent of Australians, over 1.3 million of us, are already at risk or experiencing problematic gambling, harmful gambling, according to the Australian Gambling Research Centre in 2021. These statistics are horrendous. We are, per capita, the biggest gambling losers out of all the nations.

It's just unbelievable that we in this place do so little with respect to addressing the vulnerabilities of people who are addicts—and they are addicts. Gambling damages relationships, health and emotional and psychological wellbeing. What I find particularly galling is that, for really the entire time on the weekend and any time there's sport on the television, you get the adverts: 'Gamble with mates'. They're really cool and they get overseas stars to be in them. It's pervasive. It's every advert break one after the other, one after the other, and they are targeted at young men who are watching sport. They're targeted at my children, my sons, and it's outrageous. I think that we should at least be banning these gambling advertisements during children's hours and during daylight hours. The fine-print warning to gamble responsibly is, I think, disingenuous when we allow the gambling companies to behave the way they have—the way the member for Clark has outlined.

We need to hold them accountable and they need to be more responsible. We need to do more in this place. Enacting this bill would allow victims of such theft to recoup compensation from the gambling firms who are ultimately reaping huge, huge rewards. I commend this bill to the House as an important first step in helping to address gambling harm that impacts our whole society.

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