Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise in support of the member's motion to suspend standing orders to debate this bill. Sports wagering is the fastest-growing form of gambling in Australia. Australians lose more than $7 billion to it annually, and the urgency around this debate relates to the fact that, every day, gambling is doing Australians harm. For a lot of people, gambling is a recreational pastime like any other. That's okay—for adults. It's not okay when gambling is being sold to Australian children with reckless abandon.

Sports gambling has a particular risk. It's so accessible. It's not hidden away in casinos. It's integrated into primetime sporting events that hold real cultural significance for Australians. Every time our kids watch the footy, they see sportspeople who they respect spruiking something which causes our children harm. The sports betting industry spent $280 million on advertising in 2022. Seventy-eight per cent of Australians saw a sports betting ad every week. Forty-one per cent saw more than four every week. During sporting games, on Instagram, on the sides of buses—sports betting ads are everywhere. I have a 14-year-old son who can quote the odds to me. These ads are normalising risky behaviours for our children. And so I do support the member for Goldstein's move to ban all sports betting advertising on TV and radio. I note that this proposal does not include online ads, as they currently are subject to a House committee inquiry, but it's really hard to imagine that online ads are not having a similar adverse effect on our children, as are other forms of sporting advertising.

I'll make one further point. In this place, independents have a strong, proud history of taking new ideas to the table and debating them in a sensible and responsible way. This is politics done differently, and that's what we're doing today. I really urge the major parties to join with this important proposition developed by my colleague the member for Goldstein. This is an important idea which is already gaining a lot of traction with Australian people. It should gain traction with the Australian major parties.

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