Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, 1,000 days ago, after heartbreaking evidence about the predatory gambling industry, the late Peta Murphy presented our committee report to parliament with 31 unanimous recommendations to reduce gambling industry harm. The government has still not responded. You claim to have done more than any other government, but none of your actions were in response to the inquiry's recommendations, and Australians still lose more through gambling than any other country. Why won't you respond to Peter Murphy's report?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for her question. We certainly recognise this as a real issue, but it's extraordinary for you argue that the measures that the government have put in place have not been in response to the Murphy report. That is just not true. That is just factually wrong. The fact is that we continue to work. Indeed, just this week in parliament we're introducing legislation that will stop gambling and tobacco companies from claiming the research and development tax incentive. Until this action is taken by the government, betting firms and poker machine companies are able to claim millions of dollars a year in research and development expenses. We're fixing that.

But it also builds on the other actions that we have taken. Banning the use of credit cards for online wagering was one of the recommendations and something that was talked about in evidence before that committee. There was also establishing mandatory customer ID preverification for online wagering, implementing monthly win-loss statements, strengthening classification of video games that contain gambling-like content and, of course, launching the National Self-Exclusion Register, BetStop, which has been enormously successful. The recent independent statutory review of BetStop found that users of the National Self-Exclusion Register have testified that it can truly be a game changer.

Ministers and I will continue to engage across the community on this important issue and will continue to report back to the parliament and will continue to take measure after measure on this issue.