Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety) | Hansard source

Can I tell you, Senator Hanson-Young—through you, Chair—that this bill was deficient. For the first time, if this bill is passed, the predatory inducements and the predation on gamblers at risk that we have seen over and over again by wagering companies in this country will be unlawful. We've been very vocal, including through the Senate inquiry, about the fact that this bill, as the government presented it to the parliament, was not good enough. But I am proud that we worked together, in relation to supporting a Senate inquiry, to shine a light on what is going on. To give credit where credit is due, Senator Hanson-Young, this is a very significant step forward in holding wagering companies to account.

I do want to quickly reflect on the concerns you've raised about the wagering advertising opt-out register, because this is a very important initiative to give Australians choice. They don't have to use it. They don't have to sign up to the register if they don't want to see wagering ads online—and, of course, they need to comply and log in and be an adult. Whether it's Instagram, whether it's news.com.au or whatever the online platform is, they can go to that individual online platform and opt out. They don't have to use the register. If Australians want one place to go, a one-stop shop, to ensure that they never see a wagering ad online in this country again, they just need to sign up once.

Again, for an online content service provider, advertising wagering content to an individual who is on the register—if they contravene that that particular obligation, there will be very significant penalties up to a maximum of $364,000 for an individual and $1.82 million for a corporation. Australians have a choice. They can either do it through the individual platforms or they can go to the register. For families or individuals—Australians who do not want to see gambling ads online in this country—this initiative, brought forward by the coalition and agreed to by the government, is a very important choice for Australians to make.

I am disappointed with the way that this has been demonised. Of course, it was a former coalition government which legislated BetStop, which is a very important initiative. If they can do it for BetStop, they can do it for AdStop in the same way. We were not happy with the fact that there was a burden imposed on Australians of having to dig down a tunnel every time they wanted to opt out. There's also now an amendment, passed by the parliament in the House—in the other place—that the opt-out option must be prominent.

This gives Australians a choice. This is a very important initiative. I would ask you to be a bit more gracious, Senator Hanson-Young, in relation to the important way that this register can give Australians the ability to click once, to go to the register and to never again see another wagering ad online.