Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for raising this important issue. When it comes to a full ban on gambling advertising and a fairer tax on gas exports, the government has simply failed to act in a meaningful way. Instead of delivering the reforms, Australians overwhelmingly support, it has chosen to bow to corporate pressure and lobbying. This failure is underpinned by a culture Australians are rightly fed up with: corporate control over our political system and the revolving door between political office and the private sector.

We saw it when the Prime Minister stood before the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, the lobby group representing major mining and energy companies, and confirmed the government would not go ahead with a tax on gas exports. This decision was made despite overwhelming and broad public support for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports. Australia exports similar volumes of gas to countries like Qatar, yet Qatar collects around five times as much revenue. Norway taxes oil profits at rates of up to 78 per cent and has built a sovereign wealth fund now worth many times the size of our economy. Meanwhile, multinational gas export companies that extract gas offshore in Australia often pay no royalties—nothing—for the gas owned by Australians. The most recent budget papers show that the petroleum resource rent tax is expected to decline—not ramp up, as this government so often tells us—with forecast receipts in the 2029 financial year expected to be lower than receipts from the 1992 financial year.

Australians are left asking why we still haven't seen a fair tax on gas exports and why a resource-rich country like ours struggles to fund the services people rely on like the NDIS and aged care. A large part of the answer lies in the fact that the fossil fuel industry has poured significant donations into both major political parties, maintaining deep, ongoing access to ministers and decision-makers. Those financial contributions are backed by a powerful lobbying network, including former politicians and senior staffers, and a well-worn strategy of running high-pressure campaigns to warn governments off reform.

This pattern also holds true for gambling reform. The influence of the gambling lobby is pervasive. The Australian Electoral Commission's transparency report revealed there were more than $3 million in gambling related political donations for the 2024 financial year. Gambling industry sponsorship of parliamentary groups, particularly the parliamentary sports club, has sparked major integrity concerns, The lavish events and privileged access to decision-makers by the gambling industry have been well documented. According to Transparency International, the gambling sector has hired 13 third-party lobbying firms to influence parliament, with Responsible Wagering Australia accessing over 100 lobbyists across all jurisdictions. Betting companies have campaigned aggressively against gambling reforms, most recently against the long-overdue measures recommended in the 2023 Murphy report including a full ban on gambling advertising, not three ads an hour.

Meanwhile, the same companies profit from some of the most vulnerable people in our community, tearing families apart and sending people into financial ruin, mental health struggles and addiction. Meaningful reform continues to be delayed. We've seen this playbook time and time again—from the mining lobby's multimillion dollar campaign that killed off the Rudd government's super profits tax to the gambling industry's flood of donations and scare campaigns that watered down the Gillard-era pokies reform.

In 2022, Australians were promised something different. This government came to office on an election platform centred on restoring trust and accountability in federal politics. Yet, while there have been some steps forward, the reality is the system has not been fixed.

This government has done little to stamp out the sources of power these industries thrive on: the political donations, the gifts, the advertising, the paid lobbyists, the frequent access and closed political networks. The revolving door still turns, and the jobs-for-mates culture has not been stamped out. The Briggs review into public sector appointments was quietly released just before Christmas, with its recommendations left unimplemented. My bill, developed in consultation with the Centre for Public Integrity, to ensure transparent, merit based appointments, has not been taken up. (Time expired)

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