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

This is a morally corrupt piece of legislation. What we have just heard from the minister is that the government wants you to believe, just because they say this is strong, that it is, when all of the evidence, all of the expertise and all of the lived experience shows it's not because it is riddled with loopholes and tricks. This is a piece of legislation that is designed to look like the government has listened while—the entire time—facilitating the very business model that drives people to gambling harm and suicide. This parliament has heard over and over again the pleas from parents, mums and dads and grandparents around the country who have had to bury their sons. We have heard from children who have lost their fathers.

This is an industry that grooms and preys on people. Nobody starts out thinking they want to be groomed. Nobody puts their first bet on thinking they are going to be the one who has to sell their home because they've got no money left in the bank. No-one in this country is putting their hand up and saying: 'Please groom me. I'm a gambling addict.' No-one, I put it to the government, wants to see the damn ads. No-one wants to be tricked into spending money they do not have—no-one. No-one wants to bury their kids because the gambling industry has preyed on them and groomed them.

This is a morally corrupt piece of legislation, and the reason the government tonight cannot answer the questions is that they know it is wrong. The reason this legislation is being rammed through the Senate without any of the details and without any of the bureaucrats being able to answer the questions of how this system will work is that both the Labor Party and the coalition know it's a farce. This is a stitch-up. It is a three-way deal between the gambling industry, the government and the Leader of the Opposition. No-one is buying it.

You can pretend all you like. We can hear as many times as you want about how this is the strongest reform. It is not going to move the dial. Do you know what Australians are really frustrated about? When I talk to the parents who've had to bury their sons and the fathers whose houses are now remortgaged over and over again because their kids are suffering from a gambling addiction, they look at the government, and they say, 'But this came from your own side.' You have 94 seats in the other place. There was a majority in this chamber, if you wanted to take it, to put in place reform that would actually protect people, but you squibbed it. You're too scared. You're cowards.

I feel extremely heartbroken for the members on the government side, on the Labor benches, who know how bad this is. And you've got to sit there—like silent, stunned ducks—pretending that somehow this is great. The fact that the minister has not been able to sell this proves it. You've got people from the coalition side crossing the floor. Everyone can see what is going on here. You've been captured by the industry. You're scared of what the big sporting codes are going to say. You're worried about what kind of coverage you'll get from the media companies. There is no-one in this country more addicted to the gambling industry than the Labor Party. We can see it for what it is.

When you have someone in your household or a loved one who has an addiction, trying to get through to them is really hard sometimes; that's a terrible thing. The shame shuts them down and stops them from even having the conversation. The anxiety, the embarrassment, the shame, the horror—they isolate themselves and become lonely. They do things they would never have thought they would ever do.

That's what's happening in the Labor Party. You've got an addiction. And we're trying to help you, but we can't get through. The Australian people have been crying out, grabbing you by the shoulders, trying to wake you up. But you're so deep. You're ashamed—I get it. We would help you, and this place would have helped you. But the first thing you'd have to do is admit you've got a problem.