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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Mackellar proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The urgent need for greater regulation of the marketing of harmful products in Australia, including of gambling, junk food and alcohol.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The topic I would like to bring forward for debate today as a matter of public importance is the pervasive marketing of harmful products to children in Australia. The products I am referring to are ones that have the potential to cause or contribute to harm at both an individual and a societal level—products such as junk food, alcohol and gambling. Our government spends billions every year treating and trying to manage preventable chronic diseases and social problems that are fuelled by such harmful products—problems such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke caused by unhealthy diet and being overweight, problems such as mental distress, suicide, family breakdown, crime and bankruptcy resulting from gambling addiction and problems such as family violence, job loss, injury, accidents and sexual assault resulting from alcohol misuse or abuse. And the list goes on.

These products don't cause harm if used occasionally or in moderation, but the problem is that our children are being deluged daily with marketing of these harmful products online, on radio and on TV. Their world is full of these products. They are everywhere and inescapable. Nor is it just incidental encounters. On digital media platforms, the marketing is individualised and targeted. This is occurring during their most formative years, setting them up for unhealthy behaviours often for life.

In my time today I will focus on the marketing of junk food. What is the problem? One-quarter of Australian children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. Being overweight is a leading cause of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. It's also a strong risk factor for things like cancer, depression and dementia. The national obesity strategy found that being overweight and obese costs the Australian health system $12 billion a year, and this could rise to $88 billion by 2032 if nothing is done. These figures show that this is a societal problem, not just an individual one, and it requires a societal response.

At a time when our health system is in crisis, rather than pouring endless dollars into end-stage disease management, we should be acting to prevent these problems and not just because it would save the budget bottom line but because we should be creating environments that support our children to thrive both physically and mentally. Our current situation, however, is very different to this. Children are exposed to endless junk food ads on TV, radio and digital media platforms. The average child aged five to eight years old is exposed to at least 827 unhealthy food advertisements on TV each year. But far more dangerous is the individual targeting of our children on digital platforms, where their personal data is being mined and sold.

One study of teens active on social media in Victoria showed that they had been individually tagged with over 1,000 labels and that this data had been sold to 194 different companies. Social media advertising algorithms are targeted and they learn. What does this mean for the obesity epidemic amongst our young people? Research has shown that exposure to junk food advertising leads directly to an increase in both caloric intake and weight gain. So a powerful way to help prevent being unhealthily overweight at both the individual and the population level would be to regulate children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing.

Approximately 40 countries, including the UK, Ireland and Norway, have already regulated or are planning to regulate junk food advertising. Just last year the UK government legislated a ban on junk food advertising on TV between 6 am and 9 pm from 2024, and it will ban it entirely from social and digital media platforms. I am proposing we introduce a similar model here in Australia. Our Privacy Act must also be strengthened so that our children's personal digital data cannot be collected or sold. It should not be possible for our children to be preyed upon for profit in this way, to their own detriment.

Today is World No Tobacco Day. Australia led the way and has been really successful in reducing smoking rates in this country by ending tobacco marketing, amongst other measures. Now it is time to act to regulate other forms of harmful advertising, including junk food advertising.

Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mackellar for bringing this important issue to the House today. I know that in the member's work as a GP the health and wellbeing of Australians has always been front of mind. I recognise the member's advocacy and look forward to continuing to work collaboratively on this important issue.

What I want to make clear is that the Albanese government is committed to minimising the harms of gambling, junk food and alcohol in our community. I would also like to note that harmful advertising does not start and finish with gambling, junk food and alcohol. Just today, on World No Tobacco Day, the Minister for Health and Aged Care released our government's draft of the proposed tobacco control legislation, which supports the National Tobacco Strategy and commits to reducing daily smoking prevalence to below 10 per cent by 2025 and five per cent or less by 2030, with a particular focus on First Nations Australians. This is a critical step in the government's fight against tobacco and nicotine addiction. It consolidates various tobacco related laws, regulations, instruments and court decisions. Importantly, it introduces new measures to discourage smoking and tobacco use and their prevalence and to prevent the promotion of e-cigarettes. As a priority area, the strategy calls for the elimination of all tobacco related advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

There is serious concern about gambling advertising across the community and it's clear the status quo isn't good enough. On a per capita basis, Australians are losing $1,300 each year. That is higher than any other country. We want to make sure our approach to reform is comprehensive, is evidence based and examines the multiple channels over which advertising is delivered, including broadcast, social media and branding. The Albanese government establish an inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm and we await the final report, which will be presented in the coming months. As a government, we will take the recommendations from that inquiry very seriously and, of course, provide a considered response. In doing so, we will make sure that our action is thorough, evidence based and, critically, safe for the community.

However, the issues we face when it comes to marketing of gambling extend beyond gambling ads. They run throughout many aspects of our lives. This is especially true for our young people and video games. Just two weeks ago, the Minister for Communications launched a public consultation to address proposed improvements to the National Classification Scheme. The proposed changes to the scheme would introduce mandatory minimum classifications of R18+ for games which contain simulated gambling and M for computer games containing loot boxes that can be purchased or other in-games purchases linked to chance. This is something that we have been working towards. It is something that we are acutely aware of.

Our government's position was informed by growing evidence of harms associated with gambling-like products in computer games, including a review by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts in 2022. This research demonstrated links between in-game purchases, paid loot boxes and simulated gambling and gambling harm. Following the consultation period, the ministers will work with the state and territory governments as co-partners in the scheme to finalise the proposed new guidelines.

We are also proud to have implemented and continue to support BetStop. BetStop is the national self-exclusion register for online wagering, and it is a key priority for our government. BetStop is the final element of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering. Two other elements—consistent gambling messaging and wagering staff training—came into force just over a month ago.

Last month, the Minister for Social Services and the Minister for Communications announced the government will ban the use of credit cards for online wagering. People should not be betting with money that they do not have. We expect to introduce legislation to implement this important consumer protection by the end of this year.

We are working through the Australian Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code, commonly known as the ABAC, to reduce the effect of alcohol advertising and ensure that it is marketed in a responsible manner. The landscape of alcohol advertising is complex and wide-ranging. Nevertheless, our government is committed to making sure that alcohol advertising does not encourage excessive or rapid consumption and doesn't encourage minors to drink or to behave in an irresponsible manner that would put them at risk to themselves or others.

The government funds other programs that provide information and education about the risks of alcohol consumption, including the Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Knowledge Centre and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test Initiative. We are also supporting research into the effects of alcohol consumption. The government funds research projects that are investigating the effects of alcohol consumption on health, social behaviour and the economy. This research helps to inform the government's policies and programs on alcohol. This includes the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, the National Drug Research Institute and the National Centre for Education and Training on Addictions.

Our government is addressing the urgent need to reform junk food advertising for all Australians but especially for children. In the 2022-23 budget, $500,000 was included over two years to support a feasibility study to explore the current landscape of unhealthy food marketing and advertising to children and to consider options for implementing restrictions across Australia. We are continuing to support that measure. The study will provide a better understanding of the regulatory and non-regulatory options available to limit such marketing and advertising to children as well as the costs and benefits of these options, with recommendations to be provided to government.

After an open-tender procurement process, the University of Wollongong was contracted to undertake the study. The project team includes sector experts in the fields of both unhealthy food marketing to children and health economic analysis. The final report is due by June 2024.

The Australian Association of National Advertisers, commonly known as the AANA, recently launched a review of the Children's Advertising Code to ensure the code continues to meet community expectations of advertising to children on all media platforms. The AANA also oversees the advertiser code of ethics and the food and beverage code and has flagged its concern with the rise of influencer based activities on social media, which I know is of concern to many.

Our government, the Albanese Labor government, is committed to a program of work to modernise media regulations and fulfil the legitimate expectations of consumers and industry for consistency, transparency and equity in our regulatory environment.

The need to monitor the marketing of harmful products in Australia, including gambling, junk food and alcohol, is certainly a matter of public importance. It is a matter of concern to many people in this House and in the communities we represent. It is discussed in families and classrooms right around the country. We are also aware that we can't change it overnight and that change will require serious collaboration. Change will require sustained effort from governments at all levels right around Australia and strong collaboration with the sector and particularly with advocacy groups. We in this government know just how important the voice of lived and living experiencing is, and we want to make sure that the voices of lived and living experience are at the centre of all of our policymaking and decision-making. I know that's a priority of the health minister. I know that is a priority of our government and the entire health team. We know that people that know the system best should be at the centre of decision-making. We will be setting up two peak bodies for consumers and the people who care for them, to make sure that lived experience is at the heart of all our decision-making.

I once again thank the member for Mackellar for bringing this important issue to the House today. It is one that so many of us are concerned about, are involved with and are really keen to see real change in across Australia. The Albanese government is committed to a program of work to modernise media regulations to fulfil the legitimate expectations of consumers and industry for consistency, transparency and equity in our regulatory environment. That includes minimising the harms of advertising in gambling, junk food and alcohol in our community. As the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health and for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, I will make it the top priority for me and our government, and we look forward to working with you towards these exchanges.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mackellar, as this is an important topic. The effects of marketing for products like gambling, junk food and alcohol, especially on young people, are dire and it is extremely important these are addressed. Australians have become susceptible to influence by marketing owing to almost constant exposure through social media, and the government should be able to track and measure the influence of such advertising.

Australia successfully banned advertising on tobacco products, and today is World No-Tobacco Day. We could do the same, I could argue, for fossil fuel companies. Worldwide, deaths from tobacco use are estimated to be over seven million per year. The government has done its part to minimise the harm of tobacco product advertising in Australia. However, there are over eight million deaths per year associated with the effects of burning fossil fuels. Breathing in contaminated air leads to horrific health repercussions and, currently, fossil fuel companies can spread greenwashing and misinformation unchecked to promote their products. Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing tactic that has become a powerful weapon of the fossil fuel industry's arsenal, hindering climate action while millions pay the price. There are over eight million deaths per year associated with the effect of burning fossil fuels, and no regulation. Straight from the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industry's handbook, fossil fuel companies seek social licence by greenwashing their activities through advertising and sponsorship. Frequently, fossil fuel companies will spend more time and money on marketing themselves as environmentally or climate conscious than they do on genuinely minimising their environmental impact.

Mining and fossil fuel companies know that they need community support to continue their operations, and they will invest in protecting their massive profits through marketing and sponsorship rather than actually transitioning their businesses. Fossil fuel companies will rarely talk about their products in advertising. Instead, they will use clever imaging and associations with community groups like sports clubs to present an impression that the company is positive. For example, BP frequently uses ads to promote its renewable energy projects, but nowhere do they say these make up only four per cent of the total investment, while 96 per cent remains in gas and oil. Greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry has seriously delayed action and is harmful to Australians. These companies exert huge influence, and through greenwashed advertising use phrases like 'net zero future' and 'boosting renewables' without providing any information on concrete action they are taking.

The ACCC recently found examples of greenwashing across industry, including where businesses are exaggerating benefits and omitting relevant information, claiming that offsetting their carbon emissions has a positive impact on the environment. However, these businesses have taken no steps to actually reduce their overall emissions. Additionally, the ACCC identified the use of aspirational claims with little information on how these goals would be achieved. In many other cases it was unclear what practical changes were being implemented to even achieve these goals. Finally, through the use of images which appear to be trust marks—such as leaves, images of the planet and the colour green—consumers may be misled into believing the business or product is certified by a third party when it is not the case. There is an opportunity to regulate advertising to reduce emissions and keep Australians safe. We deserve accurate representation of what companies are really doing to our planet. We know we have successfully banned tobacco advertising and we could do the same for fossil fuel companies. Of course, that would require political will, which generally is lacking in terms of actually coming down with strong action. When we pursue legislation in relation to this, it's clear we can make a huge difference. I welcome the Climate Council's voluntary code, released today, to assist sports codes to shift away from fossil fuel sponsorships.

We should also introduce mandatory information on emission standards on information labels, in advertising and on products. These measures will help people to be informed and will direct their consumer habits and practices. We know that greenwashing, with all other kinds of advertising of harmful products, should be appropriately regulated by the government. I strongly urge the government to pursue action on these issues and reduce the influence and disinformation that we are seeing at the moment.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all I'd like to thank the member for Mackellar for introducing into the House this matter of public importance regarding marketing regulation. It really is a matter that is very important to me and my electorate. I would also like to thank her for her work and her advocacy as a medical professional in the House, and I'm delighted she'll be joining our health committee inquiry into type 1 and type 2 diabetes and obesity. There's no question in my mind that Australia has an obesity epidemic. I've practised as a paediatrician in my community for almost 40 years now. Obesity was very rare when I started my private medical practice. Incidentally, in February 1984, the same time that Medicare was introduced, it was extraordinarily rare for me to see a child with type 2 diabetes. Shamefully, it's now very common. Not only can the disease be difficult to manage once it develops but also it is a harbinger of problems in the future. We're now seeing in much of our community the long-term complications of type 2 diabetes, with increases in renal failure, amputations and vision loss due to the complications of type 2 diabetes.

As a paediatrician, I want to protect our children from that, and it is very hard to do that in the face of the massive advertising that assails our children every day—on screens, on radio, on their devices—with very little thought to long-term complications. I will just mention that tonight is the Rugby League State of Origin 2023, which is well known to most members of the House. Unfortunately, while the game is good fun to watch and I enjoy the competition, the problem is that many people will be severely damaged by the advertising that's going to appear tonight. When I say 'damaged' I mean that they will, because of the advertising of junk food and gambling, develop problems that the rest of the community will be paying for well into the future.

One reason our health committee is having an inquiry into obesity is that there are long-term effects of obesity that (1) we're not fully aware of and (2) we aren't fully aware of the causes of. It's not just about eating less and exercising more. It's about the types of foods we're consuming. People talk a lot about high-sugar drinks, but there are also concerns about some of the ingredients in our fast foods. Unfortunately in my community, where people travel long distances to get to work every day, food preparation time is very limited, so more and more people are resorting to fast food to feed their families. And it's not just the sucrose, the sugars. It's also the trans fats, it's the complex corn sugars, and it's the sugar substitutes, which may well be having a severe effect on people's metabolism that we don't quite understand. So it is time to look into this in great detail.

I could talk for hours about this, but unfortunately there are other issues with advertising, not just food advertising but also things like gambling advertising. I'll be watching State of Origin tonight, and I know I'll be assailed by gambling advertisements aimed at young people and the most vulnerable groups, with euphemistic catchphrases like 'Bet with your mates'. What a ridiculous, idiotic phrase that is. The advertising industry is pushing this down the throats of our young, often male, adults to their huge detriment. I've seen friends of my kids bankrupted by being involved in online gambling. The fact that the minister is going to introduce a bill to prevent the use of credit cards for gambling online is a great idea, I think, but there is much, much more to do.

I'm aware that there are so many other things I could talk about in this debate. There is alcohol, and the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome in many of our very disadvantaged communities, not just our Indigenous communities. The fact that sometimes the first thing that kids can say is 'McDonald's' and they can recognise the McDonald's trademark is very, very sad. I thank the member for introducing— (Time expired)

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

I'd like to thank the member for Mackellar for bringing forward this matter of public importance. I'd like to take us back to the 1980s, when we all had really big hair. It was also a really important time in Australia, when we took the lead with respect to the advertising of tobacco products. In the early 1970s, Australians were smoking at record levels, tobacco advertising ran for eight to 14 minutes on Australian television, and 74 per cent of Australians really disliked cigarette advertising and wanted it banned. That took some time, but it was between 1973 and 1976 that we put in a ban and we phased out cigarette advertising on radio and television.

Between the 1980s and the year 2000, there were progressive bans on smoking in public and in the workplace. In fact, when I started work—this will show my age—in an office back in 1991, there were still secretaries with ashtrays on their desks. Of course, it took a lot longer for the senior partners to give up their cigars, but it happened. It happened. Since then, we have seen Australia take the lead with respect to plain packaging, point of sale and health warnings. But we're not seeing that level of progress on other harmful products, and I would like to talk about gambling advertising in particular.

With respect to tobacco, apart from the National Party and I think the Liberal Democrats, the major parties and Independents no longer accept political donations from the tobacco industry, but they certainly do still accept them from gambling organisations—and a very significant amount of money, too. According to democracyforsale.net, since 2012, between gambling, tobacco and alcohol, the Labor Party have accepted more than $8.7 million in donations; and the Liberal and National parties, over $10 million. So, really, when we're talking about addictions, I think we can certainly say that the political party system is addicted to the political donations that they receive from those three harmful product areas. We need to make a change.

We know that gambling is harmful. In Australia, we lose $25 billion every year. That figure is so outdated; it's from 2019. I'm quite sure that has potentially doubled. It is a huge loss for individuals and for communities. We know that gambling advertising is very much directed towards young people, it is harmful, and we in this place need to take the lead and stamp it out.

Apart from the individuals who are addicted, the major professional sports, particularly the AFL, take huge amounts of money from gambling organisations. It's said that a proportion of revenue generated from betting on a sport under commercial agreements entered into with licenced wagering service providers is paid to sports. How can those different sporting codes say that they are truly supporting the people who are their members? We need to do better in this place. I think this is an excellent MPI. I think that we need to have some very real conversations in this place about harm. We don't do enough. I think the first step would be to wean the major parties off the donations that they receive from these very obviously harmful industries.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Mackellar for bringing forward this matter of public importance. Like her, I am a doctor and I am heavily invested in public health problems and harm minimisation in relation to gambling and obesity as well as alcohol misuse. These were problems that I dealt with on a daily basis on the frontline at the Alfred Hospital for the 13 years that I worked there and every day for the 26 years of my career as a doctor.

Just yesterday, the multipartisan health committee launched a parliamentary inquiry into diabetes and obesity. This can't happen soon enough. This will be a far-ranging inquiry, much like our long COVID inquiry was, which will delve into the drivers of diabetes and obesity. As we know, these are bedfellows. They march together. One problem synergistically interacts with the other. They are driven not just by traditional conventional health risk factors but by the social determinants of health. They are driven by poverty, poor education, financial insecurity and a lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables. These are the factors that actually drive over half of all health outcomes, and diabetes and obesity are no different. The health inquiry that I will be part of will be doing a deep dive into the social determinants that require not a prescription pad but a parliament to solve. That's why I'm standing here in this parliament. It's one of the reasons.

There's no question that obesity is at, I would say, pandemic levels in Australia. One in four children are affected and two in three adults are affected by obesity and being overweight. So we need a holistic approach to tackling this problem. Junk food advertising is certainly something that we as a government are looking at. We have committed $500,000 to commission the University of Wollongong to look at how unhealthy food is marketed to children. I welcome that. This is in addition to the health star rating that we already have on food packaging. That is something that's public facing and at supermarkets—but it's clearly not enough.

On the matter of alcohol misuse, my observation has been that people resort to using alcohol or, indeed, illicit drugs as a maladaptive response to life stressors, acute stress or chronic stress. This is where we really need to focus on the drivers of mental health. Mental health reform is at the forefront of our government. Our budget response demonstrated that, with over half a billion dollars committed to mental health reform.

I want to focus on some of the things we are targeting in that package. One of the things we are targeting is workforce. We know that we are just simply not going to have enough psychiatrists to deal with all the mental health impacts that we have in our community. So a substantial amount of that funding is going towards supporting the training of psychologists. We have dedicated significant amount of money to upskilling the allied health workforce so that they understand what mental health first aid means. That means that we all become part of the solution. The other aspects include 500 internships for psychology trainees. We're looking at redesigning the entire psychology pipeline. It is unclear to me as a doctor why it takes six years to train up a clinical psychologist. That is the same time I spent in medical school. The problem with that is it acts as a drag on training and people drop out. You get attrition of highly skilled, intelligent, hardworking, committed students. They fall away simply because they can't deal with the duration. Six years is a long time to not be earning a decent income and to not be working. We will be looking at all of that.

In addition to that we're committing funding to 2,000 supervisors to get paid to get re-credentialled to re-enter the psychology workforce in order to supervise trainees and beef up that pipeline of workers that we need in order to support our community going forward. But that's not the only thing. There's no point even talking about referrals to psychologists unless you support the primary healthcare network. That's something that we're doing in a stunning way, by tripling the bulk billing incentive. Frankly, patients just need to get to see their GP as the first port of call. There's a lot that's going on at the table. Focusing on the social determinants of health as well as specific interventions is really important.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Australia today, we are overwhelmed by advertising of products that we know are harmful to our health. It's impossible to watch sports without seeing an alcohol promotion. You can't scroll on social media without being offered a betting account. You can't go to the cinema without watching a junk food ad. Marketing of harmful products is ubiquitous, and much of it is aimed at our kids. Children watching YouTube cartoons are being targeted by alcohol delivery services. Kids as young as seven are being exposed to unhealthy snack ads online. And 98 per cent of social casino games available for download on Android have an age rating of just 12-plus. I thank the member for Mackellar for raising this issue today, because it's an absolutely critical one.

This aggressive marketing of alcohol, junk food and gambling is enabled by the mass harvesting of young people's data. By the time a child reaches the age of 13, one estimate suggests that 72 million data points will have been collected on them. This staggering volume of data builds a profile of that child, which is then used by advertisers to push harmful products. Take Johnny, for example. He's 17. He doesn't gamble and he doesn't drink. Whilst participating in a study on digital advertising, it was revealed that Meta had created nearly 1,200 interest tags for Johnny. These tags included alcohol, bourbon, beer pong, poker, gambling, Bacardi, brewery, whiskey and Sportsbet. The list goes on. And the consequences? Johnny was deluged with ads for harmful products, many of which he wasn't even old enough to buy at the shops. From beers to betting, to spirits and lotteries, Johnny saw them all.

Johnny's experience reflects the stories I've heard from parents in Wentworth, one of whom recently told me that their seven-year-old had asked them, 'What is a same game multi?' This marketing is not without consequence, and we are seeing frightening impacts on children's health. Almost a quarter of children aged between five and 17 are overweight or obese. Nearly one in five teenagers have engaged in drinking activity that exceeds the safe limit for adults, and nearly one-third of secondary-school kids in Victoria have gambled. When much of this advertising is pushed through social media, the use of which is already associated with depression and anxiety amongst adolescents, it's no surprise that our children's mental health is deteriorating. We are failing our children, and we must act now.

To date our efforts have often been focused on dealing with the consequences of harmful products. We have spent millions on anti-obesity campaigns. We've set up support services for problem gamblers. We have funded alcohol and mental health rehabilitation centres. But when the social cost of gambling is $4.7 billion a year, when the impact of alcohol abuse is $14 billion a year and when medical bills for childhood obesity are $43 billion a year, our efforts to tackle the consequences look like a drop in the ocean. We are spending our time and our money on the consequences when instead we should be trying to tackle the root causes, which include the aggressive marketing of these harmful products in the first place. We are failing as a result.

This parliament has an opportunity to change things. The Keating government's Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act shows what can be done when the political will exists. The current government's clampdown on illegal vaping shows that the appetite for reform exists in the government; they just need the courage to go further. Real reform is needed, and the government is fortunate that the crossbench has done a lot of the heavy lifting. I'd like to acknowledge the members for Clark and Mayo, who over many years have presented a series of bills that would better regulate harmful industries, particularly gambling; the member for Goldstein, who has tabled a private member's bill that would clamp down on gambling advertising; and, of course, the member for Mackellar, who will soon present a bill to regulate harmful junk food advertising. Even the coalition has woken up to the need to reform.

Through its reform to the Privacy Act, the government also has the opportunity to take the lead and place better controls on the collection and use of data, especially where it relates to children and vulnerable people. It is time for some holistic reform in this area so that the gambling ads are not then displaced by alcohol ads or junk food ads. We need to look across the sectors. The government has the opportunity to be bold and to act decisively to leverage the work that has been done by the crossbench and end the aggressive marketing of harmful products for good. They must take this opportunity.

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will just thank the member for Mackellar for raising this extremely important matter of public importance. We know that there are issues surrounding gambling, fast food and alcohol use. But, to start, today we heard from the Minister for Health and Aged Care about our government continuing our world-leading tobacco control, especially with regard to vaping, and I want to thank the minister for health and Assistant Minister McBride for all the work that they're doing in that space. I also want to thank them for continuing our commitment to improving Medicare and strengthening Medicare. In particular, I thank them for their work in medication affordability and access.

We know that vaping and cigarette use has seen increased morbidity, increase mortality and significant suffering throughout our communities—in particular, in our clinical environments. I know, as I continue to work in the emergency department at the moment, we see people coming in who are breathless while lying on the bed. It's looks like they've just run a marathon. They're lying on the bed. Their oxygen saturations are declining. Sometimes, in some cases, you can't even give them oxygen. There's unimaginable suffering that comes from not just vaping but tobacco as well, and we need to ensure that we're continuing our work there, which we on this side of the House absolutely are.

But our work doesn't stop with just tobacco and vaping controls. I will just go into a bit more detail, as the member for Macarthur did, with regard to pathological gambling, fast food and obesity, and problem alcohol use or alcohol dependence. In particular, pathological gambling is very common in my community, and it's particularly common amongst young people. The number of people with gambling problems is increasing and, therefore, the societal impacts of gambling are increasing. That relates to issues around relationships, whether that be the professional relationships at work or the relationships in the home. With regard to housing, the member of Macarthur brought up a close colleague who went bankrupt as a result of gambling. That also is common, and it's actually one of the reasons that people will present to the emergency department. If people are unable to afford their rent, are unable to afford their mortgage repayments and have nowhere to live, and if shelters are full, they're going to go to the emergency department, where the lights are always on. With pathological gambling, there are also issues surrounding employment and crime.

With regard to fast food and increased fast food consumption, particularly amongst young kids, we're seeing increases in obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. That's why I'm very proud to be part of that parliamentary committee that has been established to look at obesity, type 2 diabetes and diabetes in general. We know for a fact that if we establish healthy eating patterns, particularly amongst children, that's linked to decreases in chronic diseases—things like obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and the like. If they're not eating properly to begin with, there are also the adverse effects on nutrition for children as they grow, and even diet related cancers later in life.

Then there are those alcohol related issues that many in this chamber will know. I'm not going to go through the big list. There are things that are quite important with regard to alcohol dependence. We can look at liver disease and we can look at the increased incidence and prevalence of cancer amongst people who consume alcohol—in particular, the increase in consistent evidence of breast cancer with low and high levels of alcohol consumption compared to people who abstain or don't drink.

These are issues that are in society. They're issues that are in my home electorate on the coast. It's important that this MPI is being brought to the House today by the member for Mackellar. I particularly want to focus on the fact that our government is committed to protecting children online and offline with regard to these issues, and to advertising that respects community standards. These issues are the subject of recent and current reviews, and we will continue to work in this area, particularly with regard to advertising, alcohol use and tobacco controls. Thank you.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not a week goes by—sometimes not a day—that I'm not approached by someone in the community who is sick to death of gambling advertising. They literally are sick of it. They're sick of seeing gambling advertising every time they turn on their TV. They're sick of seeing gambling advertising every time they pick up their phone or their iPad. They're sick of the advertising in the newspapers. They're sick of the billboards. They're sick of the signs at the sports fields. They're sick of gambling company names on the strips, on the shorts, on the tops. They are sick of it, and they want to see an end to it. If there's one thing this government could do to please the community more than anything else, it's to ban gambling advertising. That's what the overwhelming majority of the community want.

The community is sick of gambling advertising for a broad range of reasons. Many members of the community are sick of it because of the way it spoils their enjoyment of what they're trying to watch on TV, often a sporting game. Also, members of the community tell me they are sick of gambling advertising because of the way it is promoting and normalising gambling. No wonder Australia has one of the highest take-ups of gambling of any country in the world. In fact, by some measures we are the biggest gamblers in the world—and no wonder when, every time you turn on the telly or open the Mercury or whatever, it's wall-to-wall gambling ads. And of course the community is deeply worried about the way this advertising is presenting gambling to our children as being normal and commonplace.

We have this bizarre situation in Australia where gambling advertising is banned during G-rated TV times but there's a specific carve-out for gambling advertising either side of a sporting event. So, on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, when all the kids are in front of the telly, watching their sporting heroes and their role models, before the game and after the game these children, often little toddlers, are being bombarded with gambling advertising. This just beggars belief, and it raises the question: how on Earth have we allowed this situation to develop?

Well, regrettably, up until now there've been lots of quite obvious explanations: the donations of gambling companies to some politicians and some political parties, and the hospitality that's extended to some politicians. In fact, even in this parliament there's been controversy about a senior government member inappropriately enjoying hospitality from the gambling companies. There's also that fear of a media backlash. The AFL, for example, spends countless millions of dollars on gambling advertising: Ladbrokes, Sportsbet, Betfair. All these companies between them spend hundreds of millions of dollars on gambling advertising.

So, is the government prepared to wind back the advertising and basically take on the media barons? Up until now it has not. But I will give credit where it's due. Hopefully things are changing. I hold out considerable hope that some hard recommendations will come out of the current inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs into online gambling and its impact on problem gamblers. If that committee has listened carefully and accurately reflects the views of the community and witnesses, I would be very surprised if it doesn't recommend a ban on gambling advertising. I say to the government: even if you won't ban gambling advertising, at least get rid of this carve-out that affects children, allowing gambling advertising to be on the telly during G-rated TV times, when it is most dangerous.

But of course the government needs to go further. Yes, it has announced a ban on using credit cards for online gambling, and that's good. I would also take this opportunity to call on the government to take that next big step, which is to ensure that not only is there a ban on credit cards, not only is there a ban on advertising but that their daily limits are linked in real time so that when someone hits a limit with one company they're locked out to the rest—that was an opportunity to give that a little plug there!

I applaud my colleagues who have spoken today. I think we are speaking for millions and millions of people who want advertising reined in on gambling, on tobacco and on other dangerous products. That's what the community wants. There is a test for this parliament: are we standing with the community, or does this parliament continue to stand with the big corporates and the dangerous products they pedal?

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

GOSLING () (): I want to thank the member for Mackellar, and I note all the doctors that have spoken and all the doctors who are here in the chamber. I think we should be listening to them. As health professionals, day in, day out, they see the results of the harm that is done in our community by harmful behaviours. We've heard from a number of people, including the member for Macarthur, my friend, who detailed his experience of some of those harms. I won't repeat those, but, as someone who is not a health professional, I will simply reflect on my thoughts as a father. It is as a parent that I want to focus on our children and why they need protection in particular.

It should be obvious to everyone, but our children require protection from harmful advertising. Why is that needed? Because they are little sponges. Last week, here in the parliament, I and my friend, the member for Leichardt, launched the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Children's Storytelling. Why was that needed? Because our children are sponges, and they get a lot of American and British content. They get a lot of content that is not from Australia, so not only do we want to support Australian creatives but we want our kids, when they are such young sponges, to see themselves reflected in what they're consuming.

It concerns me that our children are consuming a lot more than we may think. They are consuming the gambling advertising and the junk food advertising, and that is a concern. Our children, as little sponges, need to be protected, and our government is committed to protecting our kids, both online and offline, to make sure that advertising respects the standards that the community expects that we uphold. I can tell you as a parent that parents all around this country think there is too much advertising, particularly gambling advertising but also junk food advertising, that is being sent the way of our kids, and, because they are sponges, they are taking it all on board.

All these issues have been the subject of reviews, both recent and current. Marketing, advertising and different sectors of industry need to respect community standards and respect the parents out there as well as the kids. It is the parents who look to us as their federal representatives to take action, particularly at the advertising that is directed at our children.

There is too much gambling advertising that our children are exposed to. The Australian Association of National Advertisers recently launched a review of the Children's Advertising Code to ensure the code continues to meet community standards of advertising to children on all media platforms, and an updated code is expected this year.

I mentioned before that I'm a father, a parent of our two young kids. I see what they are subjected to. Our daughter Sally turned 11 yesterday—happy birthday, darling; sorry I wasn't there—and our son Francis is 10½. Only the other day, they said something about McDonald's as we drove past. They said, 'There are healthier options, aren't there, Dad?' or words to that effect. I said that they've improved their offering in some ways a little bit. But my children know what good, healthy choices are because my wonderful wife, Kate, and I spend some time in telling them and guiding them in these aspects, whether it be about gambling or anything else, as they're— (Time expired)

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year marks 50 years since the Whitlam government decided to phase out tobacco advertising. Due to the change of government in 1975, the eventual decision to implement the ban on tobacco advertising was made by the Fraser government and came into effect in 1976. That little bit of history shouldn't be a surprise to anyone in this chamber. In the years before those government decisions, the evidence about the harm caused by tobacco was mounting. What we were also learning in those years was that the advertising and marketing of those products was contributing to their prevalence and, therefore, their harm.

This is relevant to today's debate in a few ways. It's clear that policymakers have known for decades that slick marketing and advertising campaigns increase the likelihood that we will consume products that are harmful to our health. We also know from this example that the debate around regulating such advertising does not need to be divided along party lines. We can also draw parallels with the ways in which industries will fight any regulation on the marketing of their products, seeking to self-regulate in order to avoid more punitive or evidence based limits on their activities. Alcohol companies regularly break advertising rules with rarely any penalties or consequences for that. The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, FARE, has discovered dozens of breaches of the advertising code on the Facebook pages of popular alcohol brands. FARE found content that contained images of under-25-year-olds drinking, celebrated binge drinking and implied that alcohol is connected to social success. We know that celebrating heavy drinking among young people is linked to increases in alcohol use and alcohol related problems.

We're now at a moment when we are faced with mounting evidence about the harms caused by other harmful products, such as gambling and junk food, in addition to alcohol. The ways in which these products are advertised, particularly to children, is becoming more insidious, more targeted and more advanced much more quickly than policymakers can keep up with. We're not just talking about advertising on television and radio, but advertising on social media, billboards, sponsorship deals and more, as we've heard this afternoon. The ways in which these products have become synonymous with sporting codes, competitions, clubs and activities is no accident. None of this is by accident. We know that children between the ages of four and six believe that a product is better for you if it has a cartoon on its packaging. We also know that Australian adolescents are exposed to almost 100 promotions for junk food per week from online sources.

I'm particularly concerned by the proliferation of sports gambling advertising on television and social media. It's aimed at young men in particular. This has been drawn to our attention in multiple ways by multiple members of this parliament. In particular I want to single out the member for Goldstein who has done a lot of work about this recently in this parliament. We know that advertising normalises placing a bet on every statistic at every stop in play. This advertising makes it seem that the only lens through which we can enjoy sport is one where we socialise with our mates through a sports betting app and that mateship is not about playing or watching the game but about placing bets on it: 'No harm in that, eh? It's just a bit of fun. Stick with your mates.'

The Australian Institute of Family Studies reports that one-quarter—23 per cent—of betters reported being under 18 when they placed their first bet on sports. Further, they report that, of all of these young men who bet on sports, 70 per cent were found to be at risk of problem gambling. As a healthcare professional myself and now as a member of parliament, I'm committed to working towards policies that help people both in my regional electorate and across the nation to live longer, stronger and healthier lives. I'm grateful to the members in this place for talking about the social determinants of health which impact on these decisions.

The reality is that, in my electorate, we are more likely to face chronic disease that's impacted by poor diet, alcohol and, indeed, the problems of gambling. So we must take action to turn these statistics around—we truly must. I'm not talking about a nanny state—no one here is—but what we have in this parliament is the greatest proportion of health professionals as MPs that we have ever had. Let's make it a legacy of this parliament: that we work together, that we don't take partisan lines on this, that we actually listen to the people we represent. The member for Clark just talked about this: this would have overwhelming support from across the nation if we actually made this a legacy of this parliament. Back in '76 I think it was Mr Whitlam who said, 'It's time.' Well, it's time again. Let's do something about problem advertising for these harmful products.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has now concluded.