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

My question is to the Minister for Communications. Australians lose more than $25 billion a year to gambling. This harm is exacerbated by the use of credit cards for online gambling, meaning Australians are gambling with borrowed money. My question is: when will you ban credit card use in online gambling?

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her ongoing advocacy in this area. The focus of the Albanese government, as with all kinds of harms in this area, is harm minimisation. That's why we are taking an evidence based approach to this issue, including being informed by the most reliable evidence as it arises through the current House of Representatives standing committee inquiry into these very issues. I would point out to the member that, in addition to the issue of credit cards, which has been considered widely and also has been the subject of several inquiries, we are currently considering the options that are available. We have long engaged with the banking sector and various advocates, including our regulators, in terms of what measures can be taken for amendments in this area which will provide the necessary levels of harm minimisation. I expect to say more on that very soon, but I do assure the member that not only are we very alive to this but we are implementing the recommendations and the framework that is currently there in relation to consumer protections, including on the 31st of this month when consistent revised advertising measures come into place. So I am working very closely with my colleagues, including the Minister for Social Services, who has shared responsibility in this area, and with my colleagues in relation to Treasury matters as they relate to banks to bring about meaningful change in this area which ensures that those harm minimisation objects are well realised. But I do stress to the member that we will have more to say on this very soon and I look forward to engaging with her as we take this forward.