Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

Sometimes in this place, the legislation that we debate needs some explanation, about not just the mechanics of what the change to the law is that we're creating but the reason why it's even needed. Some laws don't feel relevant to people as they navigate busy, stressful lives and get kids dinner or chauffeur them to sport or do invoicing for the jobs they did that week or worry about the next rent or mortgage payment, but this is not one of those pieces of legislation. Feedback from my community—mums and dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters, cousins, sons and daughters and friends who love or have lived with someone with a gambling addiction—tells me that the laws we're working on right now in this parliament do not need a preamble of 'why'. What people want to know is: why not yesterday? And it's true; there have been years and years and decades of opportunity for this parliament to change the rules so that there is less exposure to gambling ads by children and teenagers and young men and women and that there are greater restrictions on where any of us see advertising, whose prevalence, proliferation and pervasiveness in my lifetime has created the impression that you're not really enjoying sport without a bet on the game.

Hundreds of people have emailed my office just this year to tell me how concerned they are about the volume of ads they and their families are exposed to. People like Helen and Carole have each shared with me heartbreaking stories, and they are just two names of many. Some of the examples that I've heard are of addiction that has been in the past and has left a scar, but too many of the stories are a weeping sore for people where gambling losses happening right now, right this minute, are causing untold distress. Even as we've had this discussion about gambling advertising, the evidence has shifted the spotlight on yet more things for us to take action on. Inducements is a good example of that. Only last month, the Labor Party national conference—representing branch members around the country who've been among the strongest advocates for gambling reform to reduce the risk of harm—included a commitment to strengthen measures around inducements into the party's platform. What was subsequently exposed in testimony was just how disgusting the array of inducements are that are being used to keep people gambling. We know that inducements are harmful, and, as we work to strengthen this bill, that's an area I would point to.

While I acknowledge the work of Labor rank-and-file members, I want to thank one person in particular, and that's Blue Mountains branch member Paul Gannon, who, with his fellow St Vincent de Paul members, has been among the staunchest advocates for strong action on this matter for many years. They're informed by the stories they hear day in, day out as they, without judgement, provide essential support to vulnerable members of the Blue Mountains community. For me, these are motivations to get this bill right. But there is one other. We know that the momentum for change was initially driven by the inquiry chaired by the late Peta Murphy. When Peta died, I was asked to assume the chair of her committee. By that time, the report was written, and the work had been done. However, as the now member for Dunkley feels, along with so many of the members of that committee that listened to hours and days of testimony about why action was needed, I feel the weight of that responsibility. In fact, the entire Albanese government takes seriously our responsibility to protect Australians, particularly children and young people, from the harms of gambling. That's why we're taking strong action to protect Australians from online gambling harm and why I hope we can ultimately pass a bill that goes further with the support of others in this place.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 implements the announced reforms that are intended to break the connection between wagering and sport, to minimise children's exposure to gambling advertising and to reduce the overall saturation of advertising across the internet, radio and television. The bill also contains provisions to disrupt illegal gambling operations, to strengthen BetStop the National Self-Exclusion Register and to crack down on harmful and emerging online lottery products.

The Albanese government's gambling reforms are about getting the balance right. We want Australians to be in control of what gambling ads they see and where and how they see gambling ads. These changes would ensure that, from 1 January next year, Australians can sit down with their families and cheer on their favourite team without being bombarded by gambling advertising. For our kids, these changes mean that they can grow up with the love of the game without thinking that sports and gambling are the same thing, and I think that is a sentiment that both sides of this House can agree on. Our changes will minimise children's exposure to the harms of wagering advertising. They'll break the link between sports and wagering, and they'll reduce that saturation and targeting of wagering advertising.

Look at the details. Many of these details have escaped people's attention in the noise of the top line. On gambling advertising, this is what we'll do. We'll be banning on TV during all live sport any gambling advertising between specific hours, and we'll establish frequency caps outside of specific hours. We're banning gambling promotion by celebrity athletes and influencers. We know influencers are being used to target kids and younger Australians, especially young men, but that stops with this legislation. We're banning advertising in stadiums and on jerseys, we're banning ads on radio at school drop-off and pick-up times, and we're banning online advertising and looking at the opt-out functions. The online ban applies to any site or platform, including on social media, on news websites, on Spotify and podcasts, on streaming services, on YouTube and on search. It will be up to online platforms to implement these restrictions. If they choose not to, then the rules are really clear. They cannot show gambling ads at any time to anyone.

I think, with a focus on the advertising part of the demands that the community is making to this parliament, there's also a need to explain what the broader reforms of this package are. There are several concrete actions. One is to tackle illegal offshore gambling providers to reduce their impact on gambling harm and ensure that anyone who participates in gambling in Australia is doing so with the safety of Australia's consumer protections. We're also looking to strengthen BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register, so that Australians recovering from gambling addiction can easily and reliably opt out of marketing products, including inducements. The broader reforms also address harmful and emerging online gambling products, including banning online keno and foreign matched lotteries—and I'll talk a little bit more about these in a moment—and crack down on fake lotteries operating under the pretence of trade promotion.

Let's look at these individual measures. We know BetStop is an essential service that is actively improving the lives of Australians every day. Since its launch in 2023, it has supported 61,000 Australians to exclude themselves from gambling. Many have spoken publicly about the positive impact on their life, but it can be even stronger and more effective. The statutory review of BetStop found only one in four people are aware that BetStop exists, and among people who placed a bet in the last 12 months it was still only one in three. We need to do better. So that every Australian knows about this service, we will be running a national campaign to raise awareness of BetStop, and I think there are further ways we can utilise and strengthen the great work that BetStop does.

Online keno—I have started really noticing these pocket pokies—has a rapid-draw format, a high frequency of play and high spending limits. They have significant capacity to cause harm, with people able to lose up to $1,000 every three minutes. That's why we're going to ban online keno.

The government is protecting small businesses, local news agencies and charities who legally sell lottery products. We're protecting them from this new range of emerging harmful lottery products. Foreign matched lotteries allow Australians to buy tickets in offshore lotteries when the law would otherwise prohibit them from doing so. They operate through loopholes that allow them to act as a middleman, buying a ticket in the offshore lottery on someone's behalf, on the claim that they'll deliver the winnings to them if they do win. But there's no guarantee that the offshore lottery will honour the ticket, especially because in many jurisdictions authorities are acting to explicitly exclude these sorts of purchases. In addition, by offering the hope of large offshore winnings, these companies are benefiting from lottery purchases that may have otherwise gone to Australian lotteries, who ensure a substantial portion of each dollar spent goes directly towards supporting essential community services and small business owners. So we're taking action on those foreign matched lotteries.

On fake trade promotion lotteries, we are also closing regulatory gaps that allow some operators to offer lottery-style products under the guise of trade promotions and rewards clubs. Unlike licensed lottery providers, these models are not subject to consumer protections and can undermine legitimate charity fundraising and genuine business loyalty programs. The rules that exist for trade promotion lotteries are meant to support genuine companies focused on promoting actual products, but some operators are just using this as a loophole without any link to the actual product. This is having a profound effect on Australian charities. They estimate that these fake lotteries diverted more than $60 million from the charity sector in 2024. Closing this loophole will protect genuine Australian lotteries, including charities.

These measures that we are legislating build on the significant online gambling harm reduction initiatives that the Albanese government has already delivered. These include banning the use of credit cards for online wagering. Obviously, we've already launched BetStop, and we're really strengthening that National Self-Exclusion Register. These measures build on the legislation that restricts gambling companies from accessing R&D grants, research and development grants, and on the other harm reduction measures from the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering.

Our reforms are the most significant of any Australian government in history. I think they can go further, and with the support of those opposite we will be able to strengthen them prior to this proposed legislation finally passing this parliament. We have continued and always will continue to work closely with people experiencing harm from gambling; with their advocates, who have spent many hours in this building; and with affected stakeholders as we implement these significant reforms. We'll also continue to work with free-to-air television networks, streaming platforms and sporting clubs to ensure we get the balance right so that Australians can still enjoy and access the sport that they love. Together we can break the connection between sport and gambling. We can do it.

We'll continue negotiating as this bill proceeds through the parliament, and I thank those opposite for their constructive negotiations. But, more than anything, I thank those who have shared stories. Very rarely have they been positive stories. They've been hard stories to hear: stories of distress, of financial loss, of mental health consequences, of broken marriages and of families torn apart. If we can get this right and break the nexus between sport and gambling advertising, we'll be setting the next generation up to avoid some of those horrific consequences.

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