Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The challenge that this recession presents us is not how to snap back to 2019 but how to take this opportunity to build back better, to build an Australia where no-one is left behind, where government supports and promotes healthy, socially connected, economically secure communities and citizens. The increasing link between sport and gambling is a threat to that future. Three-quarters of Australian citizens believe that betting is a normal part of sport, according to research. Research in 2019 in my state of Victoria suggests that one-third of secondary school students have gambled at some point in their lives. There have been suggestions that up to 90 per cent of children can recall having seen a sports betting ad. This is despite it being absolutely clear that parents do not want their children being subjected to sports betting ads—I hear this in my community all the time—because we know the harm it is can cause. Research in 2019 found that, of all young men who bet on sports, 70 per cent were at risk of or already experiencing gambling harm; that's financial, mental or physical harm. Gambling advertising during live broadcasts was banned in September 2018, yet there are reports that the total volume of gambling ads since then has increased by 50 per cent. As highly regarded Frankston local Reverend Tim Costello noted in the Herald Sun today, if you watched commercial television during the pandemic, you couldn't escape ads for sports gambling, including during family friendly shows and when young people are watching. We are at risk that a young generation believe sport and gambling are linked. They are not, and we need to stop advertising that suggests that they are.