Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

I'm going to go back in time to many, many years ago. I was a detective at Knox criminal investigations branch, and we had a job where we attended a house in Boronia. The job was an aggravated burglary. What that means is that there was a person inside the house and offenders entered. So I and another detective went there, and there was a middle-aged man with tape around his wrists where he'd been taped to a chair. I remember that his wife was there as well, but she wasn't getting too close to him, which we thought was a bit strange. We said to him, 'Okay, tell us what's happened.' We had an ambulance on the way and he had some bruises. It was a Sunday morning. He said: 'You wouldn't believe what happened. At six this morning these guys came and kicked my front door in, tied me up and said they wanted money. So I gave them the only money I had, which was the rent money.' The detective and I looked at each other and said to the guy, 'We don't believe you.' He said, 'What?' We said, 'It just doesn't make sense.' To cut a long story short, he had wasted all his money on gambling. He went down to, I think, the Knox Tavern and spent the rent on the pokies.

The difference is that's that was a time when there was no social media and no online gambling. This guy had the bug to go down there and bet and stay there, and then he created a crime to cover his addiction. Many times back in the day we had investigations that were gambling related where people would steal from work or rip their partner off or take the rent money or whatever it was. That's how strong this addiction is. Most people go and have a punt, and I've got no issue with that at all. They spend $20 or $50 or whatever. But there are those who are addicted, and that's what gambling advertising is all about. It targets people for their addiction to get them to pay more and tries to get young people involved with fancy ads. That's what the gambling industry is all about. Gambling harm is real. It affects individuals, families, friends and communities. I know every member in this House, including the government members, has the intention of reducing the harm gambling causes, but the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 must go further.

Australians lost $32 billion in legal gambling in 2023-24. Remember that the odds are stacked against them. I think people have an 80 per cent chance of not winning. In the world we have the highest percentage of gamblers. Fifty per cent of gambling losses come from poker machines, 25 per cent come from online wagering and sporting bets, and 25 per cent come from lotteries and gambling products. Behind the addiction—and this is what this is all about—is financial stress, mental health challenges, relationship breakdowns, family conflict and loss of employment. As I said, that leads to crimes too.

The bill does not properly deal with the gambling incentives that encourage people to gamble more. There is growing evidence that bonus bets, rewards and special offers can target people already struggling with gambling. The bill could allow up to three gambling advertisements each hour during children's viewing times, as you've heard before. It's like my wife says: we're watching a family movie with my daughter and all the gambling ads come up. Lots of them are very funny. They're very entertaining, very appealing. They do a great job. But that's what it's about—to attract new people. It sounds like you're going to have a win nearly every time, so why wouldn't you have a punt?

For those of us who occasionally listen to music on YouTube, like me, every second ad is a gambling ad. As I've previously said to other people, if you go on the internet and you search for, say, a lawnmower or a chainsaw, in the next few months you'll be inundated with ads for lawnmowers and chainsaws, as I found out. At the same time, if you go and have a punt during the grand final, cricket, election or whatever else, you then get all these ads appearing all the time. Most people would say, 'Oh, the ads; get rid of them,' but if you're drawn into that, you get involved and you start putting good money into it, then that's how the addiction can start. Especially when we're hearing from young people talking about betting odds and things like that, that is of great concern to me. We need to make sure we are (1) protecting our kids and (2) protecting those people who are addicted.

Under Labor's proposal, gambling ads could appear during breaks in live sports streamed online. This includes breaks that happen during the game, such as after a goal is scored. The current five-minute gambling advertising blackout before and after online sport live streams could be removed. Australians were told this bill would ban gambling ads during live sport. However, the original ban was introduced by the former coalition government in 2018.

The Murphy report was delivered in June 2023. It's now August 2026. Why would it take the Prime Minister three years to actually get on this and deliver legislation? It's absolutely insane that it's taken so long. How many lives and families have been destroyed, and how many people have become addicted to gambling, since then? The report contained 31 recommendations covering advertising, consumer protections, research and harm reduction. It has taken more than three years, as I said, to bring this bill on. Australians deserve much better.

The evidence we heard in the Senate inquiry last week raised serious concerns. As evidence was presented about betting companies targeting vulnerable gamblers, former NRL player Luke Bateman spoke about his own experience with gambling addiction. I congratulate him for having the guts to come and give his evidence. He told the inquiry that VIP account managers offered bonus bets and other incentives to keep him gambling. He described being flown to race events and provided with hospitality designed to encourage more betting. Mr Bateman said that these inducements played a major role in worsening his gambling addiction. These allegations highlight why strong consumer protections are needed. Remember, if a person has an addiction, it's hard to get out of that headspace. When you've got all these TV ads and everything coming on, it makes life really tough.

There are major concerns with the bill. As I said, the bill does not properly address gambling inducements. It must do so. Inducements are designed to encourage people to gamble more. They include bonus bets, rewards, promotions and personalised betting offers. As everyone would remember, you hear those really funny comedians doing the advertising for you to basically double your bet. It sounds like you'd have this amazing luck and win money—it just doesn't happen. Exposing our children to gambling just shouldn't happen. They're so vulnerable anyway. The kids at school are talking about this; they're watching some sporting event, or even, I've heard, as I said, kids' programs, and gambling ads are there—just to get it in their mind that gambling is a good thing and is normal. It's not, and it's bad. Sport should be about sport; it should not be a vehicle for promoting betting products. Many parents are concerned about the amount of gambling advertising their children are seeing.

I understand, too, there's an industry out there that we need to protect: the racing industry. I know there are a lot of jobs in that industry. In my view, we just have to make sure that people are able to have an opt-in, so they can actually make their bets. That's really important. I know other members have spoken about that.

The most significant gambling harm reforms in recent years were delivered by the former coalition government. These reforms included the ban on gambling advertising during live sporting broadcasts; blackout periods before and after live sport—that's what we wanted; the creation of BetStop, the Australian National Self-Exclusion Register, which has been a great thing; and restrictions on sign-up inducements.

We should be putting Australians first—there's no doubt about that. Secondly, adults should take responsibility for their own decisions. The only thing is: I hear, quite often, people say, 'It's their choice,' and it may be an adult's choice to go down that path, but, when that ends up destroying his family and the children, sometimes governments must step in to protect that person and to protect his family.

I'd like to see happen is for the bill to ban gambling advertisements for a set period, before, during and after live and replayed sporting events, across television, radio, streaming and online platforms, and apply the same gambling advertising restrictions online as those already in place for broadcast television; to require betting companies to stop all marketing, promotion, offers, gifts and reactivation contact, when there are signs a customer may be experiencing gambling harm—so, rather than having that VIP manager targeting the person, it just should be a no-go zone for that person; to prohibit gambling companies from rewarding staff based on customer losses or on increasing gambling activity, as, sadly, the more a person is betting, the more that VIP manager gets in his pay packet. I'd like to see an independent review conducted after the next federal election to assess the effectiveness of these measures and identify any further protections that may be needed.

In conclusion, gambling harm is real and demands real action, and it shouldn't have taken three years. The legislation must be effective and must be evidence based. It must genuinely protect vulnerable Australians, and especially children. It must not weaken existing safeguards. The government has had more than three years to get this right—and I again thank the Labor members who've been outspoken on this; it's a lot easier for us, on this side, to speak out, compared to those on the government's side. The bill should be amended so that it delivers meaningful reforms, stronger protections and better outcomes for Australians. And, as I said before, we must protect our kids first.

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