Nick Xenophon (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

Okay, you cannot tell me what is the budget. Do you know what is in the budget? In relation to these matters, if you are looking at fining an offshore gambling operation—if it is Malta, Gibraltar, somewhere in the Caribbean or wherever they may be; I am not sure of this Uzbekistan is big on online gambling, and I apologise to the Uzbekistan if they are not—does the government say that they have the ability to pursue those companies and to obtain any monetary penalties from them given that they are based overseas? What undertakings will the government be able to obtain from those countries where these online gambling operations are based?

In some cases they may have an office in a place like the United Kingdom or a European country, but they are based in another jurisdiction. Trying to obtain a prosecution fine from these companies that have all sorts of complex and labyrinthine arrangements—has that been factored into the sorts of resources that ACMA will use? And is it expected that ACMA will prosecute these companies that may have operations in Gibraltar but a head office in London? How will it actually work? Or will they target any other operations they have in other countries—and I am talking about the illegal operations at this stage?