David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many Australians will have a flutteron the Melbourne Cup. Despite what critics like to claim, there's almost no-one saying that they shouldn't. The Murphy review doesn't call for an end to gambling. It calls for an end to gambling advertising. Why? Because of the immense social harm it causes. We already know that Australians are the biggest losers in the world per capita, with $31-odd billion every single year in losses.

New research released last week from Roy Morgan showed just how badly this parliament has let people down through the government's failure to implement the 31 recommendations of the Murphy review. There are now over 620,000 problem gamblers in Australia, and the majority, we learnt, are aged under 35. This is a 22 per cent increase in just one year—in 12 months, the number of problem gamblers increased 22 per cent. In total, 3.49 million Australians are either problem gamblers or at-risk gamblers. We have to stop this harm.

We have to protect young Australians. Young people are gambling; five per cent of 16- to 17-year-olds report having placed a bet, and 75 per cent of eight- to 16-year-olds think that sports betting is now just a normal part of watching sport. Gamblers Anonymous groups have been reporting more under-18s accessing their services, and this is facilitated by rampant advertising—$280 million from sports betting companies. It has to stop. The Murphy review was clear that gambling ads have to stop.