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

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Australians lost $31.5 billion from gambling in 2022-23, making us the 'biggest losers' globally;

(b) the total estimated cost in Australia of smoking was estimated at $136.9 billion in 2015-16 through healthcare, ill health, premature mortality and other costs of smoking; and

(c) while the 2022-23 Australian Taxation Office Research and Development Tax Incentive Transparency Report reported no claims in relation to tobacco companies, 18 companies which identified as part of the gambling industry collectively claimed more than $101,000,000 in tax breaks through this Tax Incentive, which comprises the single largest component of government support for business research and development in Australia; and

(2) calls on the Government to completely exclude all research and development activities conducted by gambling and tobacco companies and entities such as research organisations which obtain any funding from such companies from eligibility for the Research and Development Tax Incentive because their profits result from harm caused to our community, and their research and development activities should be entirely self-funded".

I very much support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026. There are four schedules to this bill. Schedule 1 makes it easier for taxpayers to donate low-value gifts under $2 in value through, for example, supermarket round-up donations. This is a Productivity Commission recommendation. Schedule 2 provides that trustees are to report in a trust income tax return the tax file numbers of any beneficiaries with an entitlement, and it also enables the Australian Taxation Office to streamline reporting and improve accuracy—sounds very reasonable. Schedule 3 is for minor technical amendments and corrections, and schedule 4 excludes tobacco and gambling related research and development from eligibility for the Australian government's research and development tax incentive.

The research and development tax incentive represents the single largest component of government support for business research and development in Australia. It provides tax offsets to companies for eligible research and development expenditure and aims to boost research and development by encouraging investment in R&D that might not otherwise be undertaken. It fosters groundbreaking research and Australia's research and development ecosystem.

Annual report data about R&D tax incentives in entities is a source of information on companies that have claimed R&D tax incentives for each income year, and this encourages voluntary compliance with the program's requirements and raises public awareness of companies' claims against this tax incentive. The 2022-23 R&D tax incentive report, which is the most recent, is based on 30 June 2025 data. There was $16.2 billion in R&D expenditure claims for 2022-23 by almost 13,000 companies, mostly public and multinational businesses. There was a total of $8.7 billion for the multinationals. Ninety-three per cent of claimants were Australian owned. There were no claims in relation to tobacco company research and development in that 2022-23 year. However—and this is really important—the same report indicates that 18 companies which identified as part of the gambling industry collectively claimed expenditure of more than $100 million in research and development tax incentives in that year.

We know gambling costs and impacts Australians. Financially, there was a loss of over $31 billion from gambling in 2022-23, making us the biggest losers globally on a per capita basis. Managing the harms caused by gambling costs Australians billions of dollars each year, and, of course, those billions of dollars don't equate to lives lost. In Victoria alone, gambling reportedly cost $14.1 billion in 2023 through financial impacts, emotional and psychological harm including depression and suicide, lost productivity, crime, relationship and family impacts including domestic violence, and other costs.

I don't believe that Australian taxpayers should also be subsidising gambling companies through tax incentives. In 2022-23 the following companies were reported to have claimed the following expenditure for research and development activities under the research and development tax incentive: Tabcorp Holdings, $43 million; Aristocrat Leisure, almost $19 million; the Lottery Corporation Ltd, over $10 million; Unibet Australia, over $9 million; and Ainsworth Games Technology, almost $8 million. And there are many, many more: Player Elite Pty Ltd, Betting Technologies Australia Pty Ltd, Advanced Gaming Pty Ltd, Gamurs Pty Ltd, BetTube Corporation Ltd, BetCloud Pty Ltd and PointsBet Holding Ltd. I've mentioned Ainsworth and Unibet Australia—the list goes on.

Schedule 4 of this bill will exclude research and development activities by gambling and tobacco companies from eligibility—unless those activities are solely for the purpose of harm minimisation. Well, I still think that's a free ride and a tax incentive for gambling and tobacco. I do commend the minister for his work on this bill, and research should not be used to exacerbate serious health risks, addiction and associated problems. As I said, I support this bill—it's a good start—but I don't believe that it is appropriate for the Australian taxpayer to in any way subsidise any research and development by gambling or tobacco entities. They already cost our community so much; they already make such obscene profits.

Theoretically, a tobacco and gambling company could, under this legislation, undertake research related to harm minimisation. But there would be no obligation for the company to then apply the findings of that research to actually benefit the community. Rather, such research findings may help companies or sectors avoid detriment to their business models through how they choose to implement any purported harm minimisation research outcomes. You really couldn't make this stuff up.

My second reading amendment, therefore, calls on the government to exclude all research and development activities conducted by gambling and tax companies from eligibility for the research and development tax incentive. It's very, very simple; it's a carve-out. It recognises that gambling harm and harm from tobacco are effectively the same harm to Australian people. The profits made by these companies result from harm caused to our community, and their research and development activities should be entirely self-funded.

I also call on the government to exclude from eligibility entities such as research organisations which obtain part or all of their funding from tobacco and gambling companies. Researchers in gambling harm research should not accept money from the gambling industry so that no actual bias influences their research and no perceived bias lessens the value of their research.

I've been made aware, by gambling harm lived experience experts known as GHLEE, of a $20 million budget submission from OurFutures institute seeking funding to deliver a gambling prevention education program aimed at 15- to-20-year-olds. GHLEE have expressed concerns regarding the proposed program, and it's also been covered in some detail by the Guardian Australia.

The OurFutures institute budget submission states that it's gambling education program would be led by experienced leaders, including University of Sydney Centre of Excellence in Gambling Research leader Professor Sally Gainsbury. It must be noted that Professor Sally Gainsbury receives direct and indirect funding from the gambling industry, and on the university's website she refers to the Centre of Excellence in Gambling Research as an 'unprecedented collaboration with gambling operators'. Honestly, I don't understand how ethically this university could get into bed with the gambling industry. I seriously don't get it.

Further, the university states that the centre's creation was 'made possible through $600,000 funding from the International Centre for Responsible Gambling', whose own website states that its research program is funded primarily by companies involved in the gambling industry. I and many others would be gravely concerned to see any tax breaks extended to any entities funded by the gambling interests. I and many others will be watching the May federal budget carefully for this budget bid. I plead with the Treasurer: do not provide this $20 million. The gall to even seek that funding is just extraordinary.

Now is a timely opportunity to talk about the Murphy report delays. It's been more than a thousand days since the Murphy report on the inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm, You win some, you lose more, was handed down. The report's unanimous bipartisan recommendations to reduce harm caused by gambling online include a gambling ad ban; a minister for reducing gambling harm, not a minister that's juggling the current conflicts of communications and sport; and a national regulator with a mission to reduce gambling. For a thousand days this government has really done very little to address the impacts of gambling—poor mental health; financial hardship; crimes such as domestic violence, elder abuse and stealing; homelessness; and even suicide. The government has not responded. There was a ban on credit cards for online gambling, which was a recommendation of a separate 2021 inquiry, but they have not acted on this Murphy report.

My second reading amendment actually looks to do some good. It looks to stem some of the taxpayer funding—because it's us as taxpayers that would be funding the tax breaks for the gambling industries. It's money that doesn't come into the general pool, because it's going back into the pockets of the gambling industry. So I have moved my second reading amendment, and I commend my amendment to the House. It is my great hope that in the other place the government seeks to amend this bill to make what is a good bill an even better bill. The government needs to show courage and stop predatory gambling companies from causing Australian gambling harm, and pay the price to try and prevent, manage and cure those harms. I support this bill and my amendment.

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