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

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent:

(1) private Members' business order of the day No. 32 relating to the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban on Gambling Advertisements) Bill 2024 being called on immediately;

(2) debate on the second reading of the bill continuing for a period of no longer than one hour, with the time for each speech limited to 10 minutes;

(3) questions then being immediately put on any amendments moved to the motion for the second reading and on the second reading of the bill;

(4) if required, a consideration in detail stage of the bill, with any detail amendments to be moved together, with:

(a) one question to be put on all government amendments;

(b) one question to be put on all opposition amendments;

(c) separate questions then to be put on any sets of amendments moved by crossbench Members; and

(d) one question to be put that the bill [as amended] be agreed to;

(5) when the bill has been agreed to, the question being put immediately on the third reading of the bill; and

(6) any variation to this arrangement being made only on a motion moved by the Member for Clark or the Member for Mayo.

The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban on Gambling Advertisements) Bill 2024 introduced to the House on Monday amends the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to ban advertising of a licensed, interactive wagering service—that is, a gambling service. This will prohibit television, print, radio and online advertising of interactive gambling services such as telephone and online gambling.

There is a real urgency to deal with this bill today because the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, chaired by the late Peta Murphy, released its report You win some, you lose more:online gambling and its impacts on those experiencinggambling harm almost exactly one year ago. The bipartisan report included 31 important recommendations including banning gambling advertising. With it being a year since that very important report was released, the government is still yet to even formally respond to the recommendations, let alone implement any of the recommendations. This is despite the fact that there is such widespread concern, even outrage, in the community about the incessant advertising of gambling services, in particular, before and after high-profile sporting events on the weekends or at night when children are watching.

The harm caused by gambling addiction cannot be overstated. It causes poverty, loss of jobs, relationship breakdowns, homelessness, ill-health and even suicide. A report in Victoria even found that gambling addiction is the second most prevalent motivation for crime in that state. This is no small matter. Hence, there is an urgent need to deal with this. Australians lose more than $25 billion per year to gambling, making it the highest per capita spend by the people in any nation in the world.

Almost half of Australian adults who do gamble are at risk of or are already experiencing gambling harm according to research conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Online and sports betting has become especially problematic. It's very telling that the Australian Communications and Media Authority reports that more than a million advertisements bombarded Australians between 2022 and 2023 alone. No wonder we're all sick of the ads. Roy Morgan Research shows that the number of people betting on sports has more doubled in the last five years. It has become a real issue. The Australian Institute of Family Studies found that the link between gambling advertising is not only strong but strongest amongst our young people. One in five young women and one in seven young men began gambling because of an advertisement. It also found that 40 per cent of those already at risk of gambling related harm gamble impulsively after seeing or hearing promotional material. Recent polling by Roy Morgan shows that gambling addicts make up 20 per cent of some sports betting companies' entire company base.

There is an urgent need to deal with this. This is what the community is calling out for. This would be us responding to a genuine and very significant community concern, so I ask that we deal with this matter urgently. I commend the member for Mayo for bringing the bill to the House on Monday. It's the second time the member for Mayo has done that and the second time I have seconded it. I'll end there because I would like to allow five minutes for a contribution from an opposition member.

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

Is the motion seconded?

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

I certainly second this motion. We need to deal with this today because we have a duty as members of parliament to take the leadership and create a better Australia. We know that gambling advertising causes enormous harm. We need to debate this now. We can no longer sit and do nothing.

It has been a year—a year!—since the report was handed down by the late Peta Murphy. She had such courage in putting together that report, and I think it's such a great shame that nothing of any substance has happened in this place in a year. We know from that report by the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs that online gambling and gambling advertising to children, young people and those experiencing gambling addiction causes enormous and recognised harm. We know from that report that Australians demand an end to the saturation of the advertising of gambling products.

That report had another key recommendation, and that is a phasing out of advertising of online gambling over three years. We've lost a year due to the minister's inaction. A year has gone—31 recommendations and nothing is being done in this place. And that makes Australians incredibly frustrated—I would say even angry—that their children are being bombarded, as the member for Clark said. We are talking about 948 gambling advertisements broadcast each day in 2021 in Victoria on free-to-air television alone. This has grown exponentially. If you go back to 2016, it was just 374. I say 'just', but that is still an incredibly large amount.

What has happened is that our children now see this as normal. When they're watching a game of football, our children see it as incredibly normal that they're seeing gambling advertising; or that when they open up social media, they're seeing gambling advertising. They're being told to bet with their mates—there is a proliferation of online apps—and this is causing enormous harm. Roy Morgan Research, in the 12 months to March 2024, and the Alliance for Gambling Reform showed the number of people betting on sport has more than doubled in the last five years, and yet we do nothing in this place. That is why this motion must be supported. We need to debate this and we need to have some action in this place, and we haven't seen action.

I'm sure the minister's going get up and talk about BetStop. That was actually started by the previous government, and that is one small thing that we need to fix. But we must address the proliferation and the saturation of gambling advertising like we did in the 1980s and 1990s with respect to cigarette advertising. This is a public health issue; this is actually a public health emergency. We have people who are taking their lives, who have horrendous health issues, who are losing their homes, who are becoming homeless and who are having family breakdowns. We know that this is very much affecting young people, particularly young men, and we are providing no protections in this place—no protections at all. It's like it's just not an issue that anyone in here really wants to deal with, and we need to. It is our duty as members of parliament; we are elected in this place to help create a better Australia, and we are not doing that when we are not addressing this issue.

So I would urge all members in this place, let us at least have a debate on this. We can no longer allow the government to do nothing in this place when the harm is so real—the harm to young Australians in particular. I urge the minister: you have 31 recommendations which you have not even responded to formally in the parliament. Please, I beg you—and Australian mums and dads beg you—to do the right thing and act on those recommendations. Let's discuss this bill and end gambling advertising now.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion is not about the substance of the issue of gambling harm—and that is an issue, of course, that this government cares very deeply about. This motion is regarding a suspension of standing orders, and that is what we are debating here. I thank the member for Clark and the member for Mayo for their comments on this suspension motion.

I would very respectfully say to the member for Mayo that I rebut the idea that this government has done nothing when it comes to addressing gambling harms. It is something of substance to go through the many issues that we have examined here and the many initiatives that we have undertaken and completed. On that point, I again would very respectfully say to the member and to all members here that the issue that I will discuss, the National Self-Exclusion Register, is not, as the member for Mayo says, a small thing. The member for Clark well knows that he has long been an advocate of self-exclusion mechanisms. We have BetStop as a self-exclusion mechanism, and it is enabling tens of thousands of Australians right now, in a short space of time, to exclude themselves from all forms of online wagering literally with one touch. That is not a small thing, as I will detail shortly.

I also respectfully say to the member for Mayo, who said that the National Self-Exclusion Register was an initiative of the former government, that the reality is that, although the enabling legislation was given royal assent in December 2019, it wasn't until this government was elected that it was actually launched, and it was made effective to operate in August last year.

I would urge all members of this House to promote BetStop in their local communities. It is, as I said, a mechanism that the member for Clark has long advocated, and it is one that is having real results. I also note that the work of the late member for Dunkley, Peta Murphy, has had a big impact on this parliament and on the community, and this government and I have made it very clear that the status quo in relation to wagering advertising is untenable.

Recently the Alliance for Gambling Reform released new data with extensive research. That evidence is concerning. Those insights show, through 16,000 interviews, that the number of people betting on sports has actually doubled in the last five years; more than a quarter of all men aged 18 to 24 and a third of men aged 25 to 34 now bet on sport; and 10 per cent of sports betters are classified as experiencing harm caused by gambling. As confronting as that data is, it is certainly appreciated that the Alliance for Gambling Reform highlights it and also are engaged with the government on reforms.

We know there's an established link between gambling harms and other harms, we know that the impacts are greater in regional Australia and we know that children are being actively groomed into gambling being a central aspect of enjoying sport. That is why this government is taking on the challenge to reduce those harms. We have been acting since forming government, including—again, as I respectfully point out to the member for Mayo—preverification and the credit card ban. They are two recommendations that actually were initiated by this government and are having real results. We want to get these reforms right, to deliver both harm reduction and cultural change. It's not a straightforward exercise, and we're determined to ensure that our response is capable of implementation and makes a real difference when it comes to harm reduction.

For context for honourable members, when the last set of gambling ad restrictions were introduced in 2018 by those opposite, the results showed a 50 per cent increase in the total volume of gambling spots on TV and radio, and that included an 86 per cent increase on regional TV. This was at a time when the online wagering industry was experiencing massive growth, with more and more Australians, particularly young men, signing up to bet. But the important issue here is that we have fully implemented the remaining elements of the National Consumer Protection Framework. We have acted on reports like the Stevens review in 2020, which the former government sat on but we actually released and made sure that we were able to give effect to those provisions around simulated gambling. We've updated the ineffective 'gamble responsibly' messaging on wagering advertising with new evidence based taglines. And, as I said, we have implemented the mandatory customer ID preverification.

Of significance, the government launched BetStop for people experiencing gambling harms. It's a free service allowing customers to exclude themselves for three months or for up to a lifetime from all Australian licensed interactive online and telephone wagering services with a single step. It prohibits Australian licensed interactive wagering service providers from letting a self-excluded individual open an account or place a bet, sending marketing material to self-excluding individuals and disclosing information about those persons.

Nearly 26,000 Australians have registered with BetStop. Eighty per cent are under the age of 40; most of them are younger than 30, demonstrating how much online gambling is impacting young people in our community; and 40 per cent of people who've registered have opted for a lifetime ban. It is in fact the most targeted harm reduction initiative to date in terms of directly reaching Australians experiencing harms and enabling them to put an end to their betting activity. And as I said, I encourage all members of parliament to promote this service in their communities. It is one of those initiatives that can actually change lives with one step.

But there is still more to do, and we know that this is an area that is complex. It is an area in which we are playing catch-up compared to the reforms that actually showed an increase in gambling advertising under the former government, but we continue to identify and pursue harm reduction initiatives.

In response to the report, we as a government have been undertaking broad consultation with harm reduction advocates, broadcasters, digital platforms, sporting codes, and wagering and racing industries as well as public health experts and academics. And I, and also on behalf of the Minister for Social Services, am sure these stakeholders who have shared their perspectives and expertise in this area, particularly the shame and stigma felt by people who are experiencing gambling harm, is one that is very potent and is guiding our principles here when it comes to harm minimisation in this area.

We are committed to developing meaningful solutions that support families and protecting vulnerable Australians from the harms of gambling. We will respond to the parliamentary inquiry report recommendations, as has been our undertaking and as we have demonstrated we are carrying out already. We are committed to reform and to reducing gambling harms in the community, and to build on the reforms that we have already implemented.

The last point that I will make is about the need to ensure that there is buy-in by the states when it comes to harm reduction. We know that the National Consumer Protection Framework went over time. We brought it to a conclusion with the last pieces, but there are a lot of areas where state and Commonwealth cooperation is needed as well. Our friend Peta Murphy highlighted this in her report. The inquiry was very detailed about the need for a national approach to this issue, and that is one in particular that the Minister for Social Services has been pursuing and it's one that we, as a government, will continue to pursue as we go through this reform process.

So again, I will highlight that this has been a government that has delivered more when it comes to harm reduction from gambling than has been done in the last decade. And while this is obviously a highly complex area where there is a multitude of stakeholders, we are working through this diligently. We're ensuring that this is a framework that is actually capable of implementation. It is one thing to legislate a ban; it is another thing to make it effective. And we see that not only in the evidence I just cited about changes in advertising bans on broadcast actually resulting in an increase in advertising, but we know about the proliferation in other areas as well.

I thank the members for their interest. As always, my door is open to provide a briefing on what my department is doing in this area, and I look forward to hearing from members.

Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand to support the motion of the member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, seconded by the member for Mayo.

Thank you, Minister, for your explanation, especially on BetStop. I will look into that. However, in my community in Fowler, as you probably know, we've got one of the most prolific gambling problems. Especially for people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, it is a huge issue, as you can appreciate. There is gambling advertising on television, radio, print, film, billboards and online—especially online. Young people are online now more often than ever, and I think we need to do something as a government to ensure kids don't see those gambling advertisements.

I support the need for us to actually have this debate in the House, to talk about the severity of gambling. We can't just put it off. BetStop might be one aspect that can help, and I will look into that, but I don't know if that will help my culturally diverse community, for instance. Is BetStop something where people pick up the phone and call and try to exclude themselves? I don't know if that will work for people in my community. Therefore, we need to do something; we need to be proactive in ensuring that gambling advertising online and on billboards stops. It impacts us; it impacts our daily lives, especially in my community. So I really support the member for Clark and the member for Mayo's motion. And I thank the minister for the opportunity to speak on this.

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

The question before the House is that the motion be agreed to.