Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to second the motion. I thank the member for Goldstein for introducing this important private member's bill and I rise to support the suspension of standing orders so that we can debate it immediately.

Problem gambling is an urgent issue in Australia and one that needs an urgent response. We have been elected to this parliament for over one year now. It is conservatively estimated that during that time problem gambling has cost Australia $5 billion. In fiscal terms, the cost to government of the impact of problem gambling would be enough to make it an urgent issue, but the true cost, the real urgency, is the human cost. It's the impacts on families and relationships and on mental health and wellbeing that weigh most heavily on our community and that we must address. UK studies have shown that problem gamblers are three times more likely to consider or attempt suicide. Sixty-eight per cent of people surveyed by the Australian Gambling Research Centre believe that gambling is dangerous for family life. Gambling is making us sick and hurting our most precious relationships.

At the same time, the escalation of gambling advertising again tells us this parliament needs to address this urgently. The gambling ad spend in Australia has tripled over the last 10 years. Every day almost 1,000 television ads are shown to the Australian community, to our Australian children, and these ads are getting through. A Victorian study found a staggering 31 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds had gambled at some point in the past and that TV ads for gambling were the most frequently reported type of gambling promotion they had seen, at 73 per cent. These kids aren't even allowed to gamble yet, but almost a third of Victorian young people surveyed had gambled in the past.

Our community wants this to stop. The Australian Gambling Research Centre found that 77 per cent of Australians believe there are too many opportunities for gambling nowadays, and 59 per cent believe that gambling should be discouraged. The community has spoken and it's time for the parliament—urgently—to listen. My community in Wentworth wants to see this change.

One of my community members told me that their seven-year-old daughter had asked them what a 'same-day multi' was. A seven-year-old should be discovering the joys of playing team sports, of watching sports with their friends and family, not being educated about the odds and the pay-offs. But this is what is happening with our current advertising regime.

Australia seeks to be the best in the world at sport. We strive across the sporting codes to do it, but the one code we are absolutely No. 1 at is gambling. Australians are the worst problem gamblers in the entire world. This is a championship that we should not be trying to fight. It is ruining our lives. We must stop this—and stop this urgently—for future generations.

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