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

Media reporting this morning provides a rare moment of transparency around lobbying in this place. It was reported in the media that a Labor member sat with Sportsbet and the gambling lobby at last night's Midwinter Ball. I think that is a real insight into this government and their approach when it comes to minimising harm and acting in line with the evidence based policy that we saw in the landmark Murphy report.

The legislation that they've offered up is so, so far off the mark. It does not protect children. It does not break the nexus between sport and gambling companies. It's a win for the gambling industry. It's exactly what the industry told the ABC six months ago they would be happy with. And Australians are rightly frustrated. They're rightly angry about what is happening in this place, where we have a public health issue. We have so many Australians who are sick and tired of seeing gambling ads on their screens, sick and tired of hearing their kids talk about the odds of a game and sick and tired of seeing a generation of Australians growing up thinking gambling is just a normal part of enjoying sport.

Then there was a glimmer of hope. We had the parliament—the best of the parliament—recommending to ban gambling ads, give us a national regulator and ban inducements. Then we hear the Prime Minister say: 'Yeah, nah, we're not going to do that. We're going to do the absolute bare minimum.' Australians should not stand for it. I urge people to go to stopgamblingads.com.au and write to your local member and local senator and say, 'You work for me, and I want you to ban gambling ads in August.'