Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Gambling addiction ruins families, destroys livelihoods and destroys relationships, and it is a scourge on the Australian community right now. We know that more and more Australians are losing more and more through gambling addiction, and we know the single most important thing this parliament could do to address this is to stop the advertising of gambling.

Of course, it's footy final season, and, while families are gathered around the television to watch their favourite team, kids are being bombarded with gambling ads. We could have stopped this. If the recommendations from the experts were followed, this parliament could have stopped this, but the government has failed. The government has failed to do the right thing, to have a spine and to have the guts to stare down the bookies. So, as we go into the final stretches of the footy finals, more and more kids are going to be groomed into gambling. Australians lose more in gambling than anywhere else in the world. We're losers. We're not winners. And the government is failing to act.

We've only got a few days left of this sitting period. I urge the government to do the right thing and put a ban on gambling advertising. It's what the experts want. This parliament could deliver that this week. If only you had the guts to act.