Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

'You win some; you lose more.' 'Chances are you're about to lose.' 'What is gambling really costing you?' These warning messages are all very familiar to us. They appear at the end of advertisements by gaming companies when they advertise on TV, apps, websites, radio and the like and during football and cricket games. These advertising taglines are mandatory under new rules in the national consumer protection framework and replace the 'gamble responsibly' slogan. One of the new, improved messages is, 'What are you really gambling with?' It's an interesting question and can be answered on so many levels: your future, your marriage, your friendships, your career, your financial security or perhaps even your credit card.

Gambling costs. By its very nature and definition, someone always loses. For many, this isn't a problem. They can afford to lose. That is, they bet within their means and not above it, and they enjoy what they do. In truthfulness, millions of Australians enjoy gaming and wagering and do so in a responsible manner, but for others this isn't the case, and the cost for them is far too high.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Credit and Other Measures) Bill 2023 partially answers the earlier mandatory questions I posed—what are you really gambling with? With the passage of this bill, the one thing you won't be able to gamble with is your credit card. The hard truth and reality is that you shouldn't be gambling with money that you don't have. Australia has the highest gambling costs per capita, a total of $25 billion in losses per annum. Moreover, the number of people experiencing gambling harm is estimated to have doubled in recent years, from 0.6 per cent in 2010 to 1.2 per cent in 2019. It's easy in debates such as this to simply glide over figures such as these, but behind each of these decimal points are tens of thousands of Australians. It's not just the person gambling who is affected; it is their partner, their friends, their children and their colleagues. The snowball effect is huge. We've all read about or known someone in our life who's been devastated by problem gambling.

The bill incrementally builds on other measures to minimise gambling harm. I previously mentioned the introduction in March this year of the seven new evidence based advertising taglines. There have been other measures as well. There is now a requirement for monthly activity statements so that consumers can keep track of their online activity. There's been the introduction of nationwide training to give staff tools to assist in identifying and assisting people who may potentially experience harm from gambling. Together these measures help address the government's broader commitment to minimise gambling harm.

The bill is long overdue. Wagering with credit cards was banned from TAB outlets, casinos and poker machine venues in the early 2000s. So it's only natural for this measure, in the form of this bill, to come before us now. The bill will amend the Interactive Gambling Act in three ways. It will prohibit the use of credit cards, credit related products and digital currency as payment methods for interactive wagering services. It will create a new criminal offence and civil provision related to the ban. And it will give the Australian Communications and Media Authority enhanced powers to enforce the ban.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services recommended in its report in November 2021 the ban outlined in this legislation—and for good reason. The same inquiry found that 15 to 20 per cent of customers use credit cards for online wagering. Digital currency such as cryptocurrency will also be prohibited by this bill. This will prevent people from purchasing cryptocurrency with a credit card and then using that currency to gamble. The bill provides the responsible minister with the power to proscribe other credit related payment methods as they come onto the market as a way of future-proofing this legislation and ensuring that it is fit for purpose into the future.

The government recently launched BetStop, the national self-exclusion register for online wagering, which allows people to self-exclude from all telephone and online gambling for three months or up to a lifetime. Wagering companies cannot open an account or accept a bet from people who've self-excluded, and they cannot send them marketing material. The register is the final measure of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering.

We are also working with state and territory governments to update the classification rules for online and video games to protect children from exposure to simulated gambling. In June 2023 the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs released its recommendations from its inquiry into online gambling and the impacts on those experiencing harm. The government is currently considering all 31 recommendations from the inquiry and will work with stakeholders to implement further actions to protect Australians from gambling harm.

I wish this bill wasn't necessary, and I wish problem gambling wasn't such an issue in our society. But we all know that it is, and that is why measures like those in this bill are very necessary to keep people safe and, more importantly, keep the people they love and those around them safe. I commend the bill to the House.

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