Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Last week we found out that the Minister for Communications, who's responsible for regulating online gambling, accepted $19,000 in donations, as well as repeated hospitality, from large gambling companies. Prime Minister, you promised to bring integrity back to politics. When the minister makes decisions on gambling, how do we know if her decisions are based on what our communities need or on what the gambling companies have paid for?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for her question and for her ongoing commitment to making sure that the political system that we all operate under is improved. That's why my government has committed, through our minister, the Special Minister of State, to bringing forward reforms to make sure that, along with our Anti-Corruption Commission, there is a change to the way donations can be made within the system, including real-time declarations and including lowering the threshold of donations, as well, in terms of declarations. I do note that the Minister for Communications has declared all donations in an appropriate way, and I know that the minister answered a question on this last week.

But I make this point about the Minister for Communications and how you know what a good job she is doing, and why she has my absolute and total confidence: the minister is committed to delivering a national self-exclusion register. That's called BetStop. It'll allow individuals to exclude themselves from all licensed interactive wagering services in just a single step. The minister is also implementing initiatives from—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Casey is warned.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the national consumer protection framework, including the changed guidelines for messaging in advertisements. We're also progressing work around the classification of video games with gambling-like features, making a major difference there as well, with changes that currently aren't captured under the Interactive Gambling Act. In addition to that, we're working on a response to recommendations from the parliamentary inquiry into the use of credit cards in online gambling. The Minister for Communications is the person driving that work. That is obviously very important as well. We've also established an inquiry into online gambling, including the impacts of gambling advertising on children. So let me be very clear: the record of the Minister for Communications when it comes to harm minimisation in gambling is exemplary, and that is why she has my total confidence going forward.