David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, representing the Minister for Communications. Will the minister update the House on the government's changes to gambling advertising? How are these important measures going to deliver for the Australian community?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. The member for Banks, of course, before coming into the parliament was a very senior executive in the media industry. This is an area that he knows backwards. And he is a parent and, like so many parents, very concerned about the question of gambling advertising on our television screens.

Over the weekend, we saw the Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts announce a comprehensive package of reforms to the media sector. It included the abolition of broadcasting licence fees for radio and television, the introduction of a price for the use of spectrum and amendments to the antisiphoning scheme and list. All of these are very important from an economic perspective, from a competition perspective and from a policy perspective. But the most important element of this package as far as Australian parents are concerned is protection of their children from being subjected to a barrage of gambling advertising while watching live sport on television. This is a very important reform.

Today live sport features gambling advertising very extensively, and the government believe that the present arrangements do not meet community expectations. That is why we are introducing an important safeguard. It applies between five in the morning and 8:30 pm, and during that time all gambling advertising and promotions will be prohibited from five minutes before the scheduled start of play of a live sporting event until five minutes after the conclusion of play. That will come into force from March 2018. It will apply to commercial television, commercial radio, subscription television, SBS and online services directed to Australia. It is a measure which will provide a clear and practical safe zone for children watching live sport on television. It will apply to all broadcasting of gambling promotions, including advertising, in-program promotion of betting markets and odds, and sponsorship announcements.

The package that the communications minister announced over the weekend is a comprehensive one which delivers significant economic policy benefits, but it also delivers very important protections for Australian children and Australian families, because parents can now be confident that, when their children are watching live sport events on TV, they will not be subjected to gambling advertising. It is very important that we do not have exposure to these advertisements which encourage vulnerable people to gamble and normalise perceptions of gambling. It is an important reform and an important social dividend from this package of reform.