Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I am honoured to second the motion and support the bill of the member for Clark, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment (Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2020. Australians lose $25 billion—$25 billion!—every year through gambling, with more than $1.5 billion lost on sports wagers alone. But what that figure conceals is the harm caused before the bet is even placed—the harm caused by those gamblers that continue to chase their losses, no matter what the cost.

In the midst of a recession with little chance of set employment and time running out on JobKeeper and JobSeeker, how do gamblers feed their addiction? Well, we know. The speech by the member for Clark should send a chill down every Australian's spine. The story of former financial planner Gavin Fineff has already shown us. Gavin—and he admits his wrongs—stole $8.4 million from unsuspecting clients. And the gambling providers pocketed it, wilfully blind to how Fineff was sustaining tens of thousands of losses every single week.

It's about time those betting companies applied the same level of scrutiny to the money coming in the door as they do to trying to stop the money going out. This bill will make gambling companies liable to the person placing the bet if they are using stolen money, and, if a better has paid for a gambling service using money they obtained illegally, the Federal Court could order the gambling company to compensate the victim of the original crime. This would be a truly remarkable step in accountability.

In short, this bill would finally provide victims some protection and deter gambling providers from seeking to profit from the proceeds of crime. We need some action with respect to gambling. We do very, very little in this place with respect to gambling and we need to change because there are thousands of Australians hurting, there are thousands of Australians who are victims, and, as the member for Clark said, COVID has only exacerbated the problem.

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