Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) despite the overwhelming support of the Australian people for gas corporations to pay their fair share for our resources, the Government has instead listened to the gas lobby and refused to implement a 25 per cent tax on gas exports;

(b) despite the overwhelming support of the Australian people for a ban on gambling advertising, the Government has instead listened to the gambling lobby and refused to implement a full ban; and

(c) prior to the 2025 federal election, the major parties received millions in donations from fossil fuel corporations and the gambling industry; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) implement a minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports;

(b) implement a total ban on gambling advertising; and

(c) commit to addressing corporate control over our political system.

This motion is about corporate control of politics, and there is no better illustration of that control than what happened on budget night. The Treasurer delivers the budget speech and then heads to a fundraising event. That event is not open to the public; it's exclusive. Tickets cost thousands of dollars. Big corporations and the ultra-wealthy get to cosy up to senior government MPs right after the budget is delivered. Not to be left out, the coalition has its own version of this fundraiser, with tickets also well into the four figures, after the budget reply speech, so it begs the question: Who really runs this country? Is it the gas corporations or the Australian people? The government has chosen the gas corporations.

Prior to the budget, the Prime Minister flew to Perth specifically to reassure gas companies that he would not implement the 25 per cent tax on gas exports that the Australian people are demanding. Who is he really governing for? The major gas companies each gave $1 million to an advertising campaign that wasn't for the Australian people; it was to remind politicians who they really work for. And it clearly worked on the PM—of course it would. The gas companies and the lobby groups of full of former Labor staff, and vice versa. Queensland Labor Senator Anthony Chisholm worked as a lobbyist for gas company Santos—and this is a fact—before he entered parliament. They are all actually mates, aren't they? And we wouldn't want to do anything to hurt the profits of our good mates in the gas industry. This is who we are up against, and that's why I'm so proud of every Australian who signed the petition, sent an email to their MP, shared this campaign online. It's only through people power that we can be louder than the gas industry.

But the gas industry isn't the only powerful corporate lobby influencing the government. The gambling industry, backed in by media moguls afraid of losing advertising revenue, has quietly exerted a huge amount of influence to counter community anger against gambling advertising and the terrible effects of gambling harm on the Australian people. And here's something the government don't want you to know. They are so embarrassed by it they released it on the afternoon of the budget, right when all the journalists couldn't access their phones in the budget lock-up. It was the government response to a key gambling report, which they had been sitting on literally for years, that recommended banning online gambling advertising. I'd be embarrassed too if I completely capitulated to the gambling lobby on an issue that costs Australians $32 billion a year and countless lives and livelihoods. I'd be embarrassed too if I completely capitulated on an issue that unites almost all Australians. We are sick of gambling ads, and we are sick of the effect that they are having on our society. The almost $3 million in donations to the major parties over the last decade from the gambling lobby, has really paid off for them, hasn't it? Including to Labor in government setting the very regulations the industry is subject to.

Who are they governing for again? For the Australian people or the gambling lobby? No; Labor have instead done a token set of reforms purely so they can say they've done something. It's pretty clear that's what they were going for. Some restrictions on specific time slots and types of broadcasts, which will just shift more ads into other unrestricted slots. The government's own modelling says these reforms will only reduce gambling by 0.8 per cent. I'm sure the gambling companies are okay with that.

It's shameful, isn't it, that this is the state of our democracy, but I do have hope because the government clearly do feel like they need to respond to pressure. That's why they are doing things that they think sound good, even if they don't actually fix anything. That means that if all of our voices are collectively louder than the gas lobby, than the gambling lobby, then we can get real change.

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