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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today, I present a bill to stop the gambling ads. This bill enacts the cornerstone recommendation of a committee inquiry that I was honoured to participate in, chaired by the late Peta Murphy, who handed down our unanimous recommendations more than 1,000 days ago.

This House has heard me speak about the need for gambling reform many times. So today, as I present this bill, I want to give a voice to others, who don't have powerful lobby groups operating in this building, who do not make big political donations, who cannot control the media narrative, but deserve to be heard.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform has been collecting stories from people around Australia who want to see this action. Here are some of their stories:

[I used to think] that gambling was socially acceptable, not realising that it was costing me more than my hard- earned money. Over a period of 25-odd years I gambled away my family, a multitude of friends ... and my home, before 1 realised what I'd really done & what I was still doing. Then, I nearly gambled away a second family before a close friend (with different addictions) helped me to realise that .I was addicted to this 'pastime'.

Now, I see the gambling ads shoved in my 12 year old daughter's face every time we want to enjoy time watching our favourite teams playing, I nearly cry thinking how close I came to losing her. But I don't; instead we have discussions about how I (and many of my friends) fell for the marketing. Gambling doesn't make it more fun to watch sports, it doesn't help you bond with mates, it drives you to drink & other illicit coping mechanisms.

A wife shared how her husband's gambling addiction has ruined her dreams for a good life:

Gambling harm has already completely eroded and killed my relationship with my husband. I started out empathetic and compassionate to help my husband overcome this mental health condition that is gambling addiction, but my help and compassion [were] preyed upon and made harder by the relentless onslaught of gambling available in Australia. We would get on top of going to pokies in venues, and then online pokies became available, sportsbetting became easier through apps. There really is no escape from this nightmare now. ... There's nowhere to help us. The only option [seems to be] to dissolve the marriage and the family. ... I implore the Australian Government to do better.

A parent shared their story of their son's gambling addiction:

Just over two years ago my son lost everything, including his wife and kids all due to easy online gambling. He also tried to take his own life.... He tells us he's not gambling anymore but we're not sure if this is true. Hopefully for his sake it is.... it has taken a toll on all of us. I almost had a nervous breakdown and I am constantly in tears when I [think] back on the events that took place. When I see these gambling ads constantly on TV, I literally have to change the channel or close my eyes and block my ears. My son loves his football, so he constantly sees this thrown in his face as well. Something needs to be done NOW to stop these ads before more stories like mine happen.

A man shared his story of how gambling has affected three generations of his family. He says:

I lost my Dad to suicide in 2014 directly related to horse-racing gambling. I myself lost everything that meant anything to me, due to a pathological addiction to poker machines. [And now] I see my nephew, who's 15, bombarded with ipad ads, designed to get kids hooked.

We MUST ban this disgusting blight on society that preys on the most vulnerable. For our children. For a better world.

A First Nations Australian provided a perspective from the centre of our country:

My town is suffering, the people here are suffering. Gambling addiction means there's no food on the table and no money to pay bills. I see here in Alice Springs, exactly who is hardest hit by the gambling culture and it isn't whitefellas and it isn't anyone who can afford to lose money.

There are hundreds of these stories and I wish I could share them all with the parliament.

Reading them one by one—what really hits you is how broad the impact of gambling harm is.

Gamblers speak of what it has done to their families—to their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, to their friends—and to their sons and daughters.

Gambling addiction tears families apart. The Prime Minister doesn't want to act on gambling because he thinks people should take responsibility for their own actions—but he doesn't consider how your life can be ruined if someone in your family cannot escape their gambling addiction.

Gambling ads are a big part of this. Banning ads for online gambling is not a full solution to the harm caused by the gambling industry, but it is a start.

This bill phases in a comprehensive ad ban for online gambling, over a period of three years. It is designed to ban the most high-impact ads and ad times first, while giving broadcasting companies time to manage the losses to their ad revenue. By the end of the three years, all ads for online gambling will be banned from television, streaming services, social media, stadiums, buildings and beyond.

The Prime Minister wants people to take personal responsibility. But it is not a fair fight for people to go up against billion-dollar companies. This bill makes the fight slightly fairer.

It does not ban gambling and that's not what I'm advocating for. In fact, I'm willing to take a punt right now:

Why? Because he's listening to the money, not to the people. I cede the remainder of my time to the member for Clark.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the member for Curtin's bill. It's an honour to second this bill because it would do what the Albanese government has revealed itself as too weak and too scared to do, and that is to finally ban gambling advertising. I've stood in this place countless times since I was elected in 2010 and quoted the research, the statistics and the reams of evidence about the ill effects of gambling addiction and the cost to the community, individuals and the economy. I even chaired the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform.

So in June 2023, when Peta Murphy handed down a unanimous cross-party report on gambling harm with 31 clear recommendations, I was hopeful. I was hopeful because this isn't the minority government of 2010, which was so fearful in the face of a campaign from the gambling lobby. No, in this parliament Labor has an historic majority, the opposition are still in disarray, we have Peta's blueprint for reform and there's broad support for at least banning gambling advertising. In other words, the government has all they need to stand up to the gambling lobby. That's why it's particularly galling that, more than 1,000 days since the Murphy report was handed down, still the government has shown all the spine of a jellyfish.

In fact, in a particularly outrageous example of this lack of guts, the Minister for Communications personally told a former gambling addict and reform campaigner that she shouldn't speak to the government but instead go and convince the wagering companies, television networks and sporting codes of the need for reform. Good grief! Doesn't the minister know what her job is? It's not to wait for the companies she regulates to come and beg her to regulate them. No, it's to act in the public interest—in the interests of the hundreds of thousands of Australians experiencing or impacted by gambling addiction—and to enact reforms.

Of course, I don't blame the minister entirely because, as we all know, it's the Prime Minister that's the real blockage here, because he's scared of the media and gambling companies as well as the sporting codes. Hence he resorts to gaslighting and obfuscating and by crowing about reforms that were initiated by the Morrison government. When I called for a free vote on the matter, the Prime Minister deferred responsibility by saying that the Labor caucus makes decisions and that there's caucus solidarity. Well, there's solidarity and there's subordination. At the moment it looks to me like a case of caucus being completely subordinate to the Prime Minister. Frankly, the current impasse is scandalous. So I say to the PM again: if you can't bring yourself to take on the parasites benefiting from gambling, then get out of the way and let the rest of us do the work for you.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.