Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to a government report released this week that recommends that Australia now permit online gambling. Will the Prime Minister rule out changing the law to permit this dangerous extension of gambling to the internet, iPads and smartphones?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition: rather than theorising about a draft report that is out for consultation, if he has got the slightest concern about problem gambling in our nation, he can approach the dispatch box now and we will give him leave and give him an opportunity to say he will back this government's reforms on problem gambling. We will give him an opportunity to say that he will pledge the Liberal and National parties to do something to address the scourge of poker machines around the country and the fact that so many Australian families actually have their budgets and their families broken by poker machine gambling. If he is really serious, I trust he is doing that now.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I asked the Prime Minister about a new scourge, not an old one, and I believe she should be directly relevant to the question.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister to address the question before the chair.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the Leader of the Opposition: if he is prepared to use the terminology of 'old scourge', why is he not prepared to do anything about it? Why is he so hypocritical that he will not today pledge the Liberal and National parties to support this legislation that the government wants to bring to this parliament to address poker machine reform and problem gambling? The Leader of the Opposition in his press conference a little bit earlier today was asked about this and said, 'That's not what we're here to talk about today', and then just shut down his press conference. Running and hiding is not good enough from this Leader of the Opposition. If he is going to have a pretence of caring about problem gambling, then he should pledge today, he should pledge now, his support for poker machine reform. Otherwise he will not be taken seriously. On interactive gambling there is a draft report out for consultation. If the Leader of the Opposition has views, I suggest he involve himself in the process, but no-one is going to take him seriously unless he says, 'Yes, I support poker machine reform'.