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

I second the motion. I commend the member for Clark for never giving up on this issue, despite what has often been a very disappointing response from several governments. Australians now lose $32 billion every year—more than any other nation on a per capita basis. Many vulnerable members of our community are now having gambling shoved down their throats through aggressive marketing—and we're not doing anything about that either.

The ABC reported in July 2024 that, before being convicted of stealing $400,000 from her employer to feed her gambling addiction, Carolyn Crawford, age 64, had never had so much as a parking fine. She was jailed for 18 months. Had the operators been required to undertake due diligence, they may have ascertained that her income was insufficient to cover such losses or at least to compensate her employer. Apparently, three-quarters of women in prison with Carolyn are also there as a result of gambling addiction. What a waste!

Existing laws make it an offence to deal with money which a recipient ought reasonably to have suspected to be in the proceeds of crime. However, existing regulators have been slow to use their powers to claw back proceeds of crime from those who benefit. This bill, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment (Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2024, imposes an obligation on gambling companies to notify AUSTRAC if they suspect a person is paying for a gambling service with money obtained illegally. If they do not, the Federal Court will be able to order the company to compensate for the injured party's loss. That will at least give those harmed some sort of recourse.

We are still waiting for the government to properly respond to the recommendations under what we all know as the Murphy report. Nineteen months after it's handed down, we still appear to be no further. I truly commend the member for Clark on this bill and all the work he has done in this parliament and parliaments before with respect to gambling harm. With gambling companies, we know that they should have known both in the case of Gavin Fineff and the case that I just spoke about that the funds that were being gambled were the proceeds of crime. How come, in every other aspect, we go very hard on those who benefit from the proceeds of crime but we don't seem to do that with gambling companies?

I commend this bill to the House.

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